A Review on Biological Processes for Pharmaceuticals Wastes Abatement—A Growing Threat to Modern Society
- 19 June 2019
- journal article
- review article
- Published by American Chemical Society (ACS) in Environmental Science & Technology
- Vol. 53 (13), 7185-7202
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.8b06977
Abstract
Over the last decades, the production and consumption of pharmaceuticals and health care products grew manifold, allowing an increase in life expectancy and a better life quality for humans and animals, in general. However, the growth in pharmaceuticals production and consumption comes with an increase in waste production, which creates a number of challenges as well as opportunities for the waste management industries. The conventional current technologies used to treat effluents have shown to be inefficient to remove or just to reduce the concentrations of these types of pollutants to the legal limits. The present review provides a thorough state-of-the-art overview on the use of biological processes in the rehabilitation of ecosystems contaminated with the pharmaceutical compounds most commonly detected in the environment and eventually more studied by the scientific community. Among the different biological processes, special attention is given to biosorption and biodegradation.Keywords
Funding Information
- European Regional Development Fund (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004)
- Funda??o para a Ci?ncia e a Tecnologia (PTDC/AAG-TEC/5269/2014, UID/BIO/04469/2013)
This publication has 181 references indexed in Scilit:
- Degradation of pharmaceuticals in non-sterile urban wastewater by Trametes versicolor in a fluidized bed bioreactorWater Research, 2013
- State of the Art for the Biosorption Process—a ReviewApplied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 2013
- Parameters affecting sulfonamide photo-Fenton degradation - Iron complexation and substituent groupJournal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry, 2012
- The influence of six pharmaceuticals on freshwater sediment microbial growth incubated at different temperatures and UV exposuresBiodegradation, 2011
- Biotransformation of three pharmaceutical active compounds by the fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium in a fed batch stirred reactor under air and oxygen supplyBiodegradation, 2011
- Persistence of gemfibrozil, naproxen and mefenamic acid in natural watersEnvironmental Chemistry Letters, 2009
- Bacterial biosorbents and biosorptionBiotechnology Advances, 2008
- Removal of organic xenobiotics in activated sludges under aerobic conditions and anaerobic digestion of the adsorbed speciesJournal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology, 2006
- Application of biosorption for the removal of organic pollutants: a reviewProcess Biochemistry, 2005
- Application of biosorption for penicillin G removal: comparison with activated carbonProcess Biochemistry, 2004