Abstract
Persistent pharmaceutical pollutants (PPPs) have been identified as potential endocrine disruptors that mimic growth hormones when consumed at nanogram per liter to microgram per liter concentrations. Their occurrence in potable water remains a great threat to human health. Different conventional technologies developed for their removal from wastewater have failed to achieve complete mineralization. Advanced oxidation technologies such as dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) based on free radical mechanisms have been identified to completely decompose PPPs. Due to the existence of pharmaceuticals as mixtures in wastewater and the recalcitrance of their degradation intermediate by-products, no single advanced oxidation technology has been able to eliminate pharmaceutical xenobiotics. This review paper provides an update on the sources, occurrence, and types of pharmaceuticals in wastewater by emphasizing different DBD configurations previously and currently utilized for pharmaceuticals degradation under different experimental conditions. The performance of the DBD geometries was evaluated considering various factors including treatment time, initial concentration, half-life time, degradation efficiency and the energy yield (G50) required to degrade half of the pollutant concentration. The review showed that the efficacy of the DBD systems on the removal of pharmaceutical compounds depends not only on these parameters but also on the nature/type of the pollutant.
Recommended Citation
E. S. Massima Mouele and J. O. Tijani and K. O. Badmus and O. Pereao and O. Babajide and C. Zhang and T. Shao and E. Sosnin and V. Tarasenko and O. O. Fatoba and K. Laatikainen and L. F. Petrik, "Removal of Pharmaceutical Residues from Water and Wastewater using Dielectric Barrier Discharge Methods—a Review," International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 1 - 42, article no. 1683, MDPI, Feb 2021.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041683
Department(s)
Mining Engineering
Publication Status
Open Access
Keywords and Phrases
Advanced oxidation technologies; Chemicals/contaminants of emerging concern (CEC); Dielectric barrier discharge; Excilamp; Pharmaceutical residues; Wastewater; Water
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
1660-4601; 1661-7827
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Final Version
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2024 The Authors, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Publication Date
02 Feb 2021
PubMed ID
33578670
Comments
National Research Foundation, Grant 18N/2019