Pharmaceuticals as emerging micropollutants in aquatic environments

doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-818612-1.00002-7

Micropollutants and Challenges

Emerging in the Aquatic Environments and Treatment Processes

2020, Pages 35-90

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818612-1.00002-7 Get rights and content

Abstract

Although the unique global increase of pharmaceuticals is referred to one of the greatest benefits of health in society, it has also been paralleled by discharge of these compounds in natural environment and ecosystem. Knowledge concerning the fate, occurrence, and adverse effects of remained pharmaceutical in the aquatic environments is very low. Wastewater treatment plants have been identified as a major way for discharge of pharmaceuticals in aquatic bodies (ranging from ng/L to μg/L). Pharmaceuticals classes include nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, psychiatric, cardiovascular, hypocholesterolemic drugs, steroid hormones, and antibiotics. Currently due to their continuous discharge into the aquatic media and possible adverse health effects on human, flora, biota, and aquatic ecosystems, pharmaceuticals as emerging trace pollutants have obtained growing attention. First during the Catchment Quality Control in USA, it was found that pharmaceutical compounds can enter the water bodies. Although, for safety and efficacy aspects, strict regulations and controls are derived by pharmaceutical companies and institutions such as Food and Drug Administration or the European Medicines Agency (EMA), there are many environmental challenges to face now and in the future. Despite a great scientific advancement has been achieved, our knowledge is still limited on pharmaceuticals behavior as emerging micropollutants in aquatic environments. This review will be helpful to reveal the environmental exposure to these compounds in the aquatic environments.

References (0)

Cited by (23)

Physiological impact of personal care product constituents on non-target aquatic organisms
2023, Science of the Total Environment
Personal care products (PCPs) are products used in cleaning, beautification, grooming, and personal hygiene. The rise in diversity, usage, and availability of PCPs has resulted in their higher accumulation in the environment. Thus, these constitute an emerging category of environmental contaminants due to the potential of its constituents (chemical and non-chemical) to induce various physiological effects even at lower concentrations (ng/L). For analyzing the impact of the PCPs constituents on the non-target organism about 300 article including research articles, review articles and guidelines were studied from 2000 to 2023. This review aims to firstly discuss the fate and accumulation of PCPs in the aquatic environment and organisms; secondly provides overview of environmental risks that are linked to PCPs; thirdly review the trends, current status of regulations and risks associated with PCPs and finally discuss the knowledge gaps and future perspectives for future research. The article discusses important constituents of PCPs such as antimicrobials, cleansing agents and disinfectants, fragrances, insect repellent, moisturizers, plasticizers, preservatives, surfactants, UV filters, and UV stabilizers. Each of them has been found to display certain toxic impact on the aquatic organisms especially the plasticizers and UV filters. These continuously and persistently release biologically active and inactive components which interferes with the physiological system of the non-target organism such as fish, corals, shrimps, bivalves, algae, etc. With a rise in the number of toxicity reports, concerns are being raised over the potential impacts of these contaminant on aquatic organism and humans. The rate of adoption of nanotechnology in PCPs is greater than the evaluation of the safety risk associated with the nano-additives. Hence, this review article presents the current state of knowledge on PCPs in aquatic ecosystems.
Recent advances in cellulose supported photocatalysis for pollutant mitigation: A review
2023, International Journal of Biological Macromolecules
Citation Excerpt :
Antibiotics are mainly utilized in veterinary and human tablets. Antibiotics also act as growth agents [173]. The antibiotics are mainly present in water resources, effluent from industries, manure, soil, plants, organisms, and sludge.
In recent times, green chemistry or “green world” is a new and effective approach for sustainable environmental remediation. Among all biomaterials, cellulose is a vital material in research and green chemistry. Cellulose is the most commonly used natural biopolymer because of its distinctive and exceptional properties such as reproducibility, cost-effectiveness, biocompatibility, biodegradability, and universality. Generally, coupling cellulose with other nanocomposite materials enhances the properties like porosity and specific surface area. The polymer is environment-friendly, bioresorbable, and sustainable which not only justifies the requirements of a good photocatalyst but boosts the adsorption ability and degradation efficiency of the nanocomposite. Hence, knowing the role of cellulose to enhance photocatalytic activity, the present review is focused on the properties of cellulose and its application in antibiotics, textile dyes, phenol and Cr(VI) reduction, and degradation. The work also highlighted the degradation mechanism of cellulose-based photocatalysts, confirming cellulose's role as a support material to act as a sink and electron mediator, suppressing the charge carrier's recombination rate and enhancing the charge migration ability. The review also covers the latest progressions, leanings, and challenges of cellulose biomaterials-based nanocomposites in the photocatalysis field.
Adsorption-desorption of organic micropollutants by powdered activated carbon and coagulant in drinking water treatment
2022, Journal of Water Process Engineering
Citation Excerpt :
Some pharmaceutical compounds such as estrogenic hormones can be toxic at low concentrations (ng/L) to several organisms such as fish, amphibians and molluscs. In France, carbamazepine, diclofenac and ibuprofen are frequently found in surface water at concentrations of 10 ng/L [16]. Insufficient removal of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) during drinking water treatment could pose a risk to humans [14] (see the effects of pesticide residues [17] and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs)) [18,19].
The addition of powdered activated carbon (PAC) and a coagulant during the coagulation-flocculation process is an easy and common option for tackling pollution peaks from organic micropollutants (OMPs) in the production of drinking water. However, the adsorption-desorption mechanisms during this process have not been thoroughly explored. Thus, this research aims to study the mechanisms involved and the impact of the operating conditions when PAC and coagulant are simultaneous used. A commercial PAC with a BET-specific surface area of 961 m²/g, and ferric chloride (FeCl₃) were added simultaneously to three different waters spiked with 15 OMPs (pesticides and pharmaceuticals). Different parameters such as PAC and coagulant dosage, pH, contact time and the nature/content of the natural organic matter (NOM) were examined. Results showed that using coagulant + PAC reduced OMP adsorption efficiency, whereas increasing PAC dosage and extending contact time enhanced OMP removal efficiency. Furthermore, a high concentration of NOM affected micropollutant adsorption by competing for adsorption sites. This study highlights for the first time an unexpected phenomenon that significantly affects overall efficiency: i.e. OMPs adsorbed during the slow mixing step that desorbed during the sedimentation step. Desorption sometimes reduced by >30 % the overall efficiency of OMP removal. The parameters that affected efficiency loss were pH, contact time, NOM concentration, and PAC and FeCl₃ dosage. Some operational adaptations could be considered regarding these parameters to avoid or reduce desorption, making the process more cost-effective.
Agro-industrial residues as biosorbents for the removal of anti-inflammatories from aqueous matrices: An overview
2022, Environmental Advances
The presence of pharmaceutical compounds (PCs) in waters has concerned the scientific community because of their occurrence, persistence, and potentially deleterious effects on human health and aquatic ecosystems. Consequently, studies on the removal of PCs have intensified in the last decade. Because of the lack of deep analysis of this subject, the present study aimed to review the main methods for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) removal from aqueous matrices using biosorbents. The study focused on the adsorption process using adsorbents derived from agro-industrial residues: raw materials, activated materials, biochar, and activated carbon. For this purpose, an overview of publications between 2011 and 2021 was performed on the scientific databases. The consulted literature focused on NSAIDs of highest incidence in water matrices (acetaminophen, ketoprofen, diclofenac, ibuprofen, naproxen, and paracetamol). The evaluated articles report several procedures for preparing and modifying adsorbent materials, in addition to studies concerning the equilibrium, kinetics, and thermodynamics of the adsorption process. Agro-industrial residues converted into activated carbon were the most reported and had improved performance compared to less-processed biosorbents. The use of adsorbents derived from agro-industrial residues is a promising strategy for NSAID removal from water and wastewater. However, further investigations are necessary to provide reliable parameters aimed at upscaling water treatment on a large scale.
Metformin as an emerging concern in wastewater: Occurrence, analysis and treatment methods
2022, Environmental Research
Citation Excerpt :
Thus, photocatalysis can be adopted for the elimination of metformin in wastewater. Fenton's reagent is a combination of hydrogen peroxide and Fe-salt which exhibits a special property in removing recalcitrant compounds present in different environmental matrices (Ameta et al., 2018; Chavoshani et al., 2020). This process attained popularity due to ease in operation, flexibility in operating temperature (Krishnan et al., 2017).
Metformin is a wonder drug used as an anti-hypoglycemic medication; it is also used as a cancer suppression medicament. Metformin is a first line of drug choice used by doctors for patients with type 2 diabetes. It is used worldwide where the drug's application varies from an anti-hypoglycemic medication to cancer oppression and as a weight loss treatment drug. Due to its wide range of usage, metformin and its byproducts are found in waste water and receiving aquatic environment. This leads to the accumulation of metformin in living beings and the environment where excess concentration levels can lead to ailments such as lactic acidosis or vitamin B12 deficiency. This drug could become of future water treatment concerns with its tons of production per year and vast usage. As a result of continuous occurrence of metformin has demanded the need of implementing and adopting different strategies to save the aquatic systems and the exposure to metformin. This review discuss the various methods for the elimination of metformin from wastewater. Along with that, the properties, occurrence, and health and environmental impacts of metformin are addressed. The different analytical methods for the detection of metformin are also explained. The main findings are discussed with respect to the management of metformin as an emerging contaminants and the major recommendations are discussed to understand the major research gaps.
Comparison of cellular mechanisms induced by pharmaceutical exposure to caffeine and its combination with salicylic acid in mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis
2022, Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology
Urban and hospital-sourced pharmaceuticals are continuously discharged into aquatic environments, threatening biota. To date, their impact as single compounds has been widely investigated, whereas few information exists on their effects as mixtures. We assessed the time-dependent biological impact induced by environmental concentrations of caffeine alone (CAF; 5 ng/L to 10 µg/L) and its combination with salicylic acid (CAF+SA; 5 ng/L+0.05 µg/L to 10 µg/L+100 µg/L) on gills of mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis during a 12-day exposure. Although no histological alteration was observed in mussel gills, haemocyte infiltration was noticed at T12 following CAF+SA exposure, as confirmed by flow cytometry with increased hyalinocytes. Both the treatments induced lipid peroxidation and cholinergic neurotoxicity, which the antioxidant system was unable to counteract. We have highlighted the biological risks posed by pharmaceuticals on biota under environmental scenarios, contributing to the enhancement of ecopharmacovigilance programmes and amelioration of the efficacy of wastewater treatment plants.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

Chapter 2 - Pharmaceuticals as emerging micropollutants in aquatic environments

Abstract