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Molecules
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Removal of Pharmaceuticals from Contaminated Water, Wastewater and Sediments
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Removal of Pharmaceuticals from Contaminated Water, Wastewater and Sediments

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Green Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2024) | Viewed by 9106

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Przemysław Drzewicz

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Polish Geological Institute—National Research Institute, Rakowiecka 4, 00-975 Warszawa, Poland
Interests: environmental analytical chemistry; geoanalytical chemistry; advanced oxidation processes; emerging environmental pollutants
Prof. Dr. Grzegorz Nałęcz-Jawecki

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Medical University of Warsaw, Banacha 1, 02-097 Warszawa, Poland
Interests: environmental toxicology; ecotoxicology; pharmaceuticals in the environment; advanced oxidation processes; emerging environmental pollutants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Maciej Thomas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Technologies, Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Energy, Cracow University of Technology, Warszawska 24, 31-155 Kraków, Poland
Interests: advanced oxidation processes (AOPs); the application of ferrate (VI) for the removal of organic compounds from water and wastewater; industrial wastewater treatment technology; novel environmentally friendly coagulants; the removal of heavy metal ions; general analytical chemistry; green chemistry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Physicochemical processes of removing pharmaceuticals from liquid and solid environmental compartments are designed to remove organic and, sometimes, inorganic pollutants using a variety of processes, such as coagulation, flocculation, adsorption, membrane separation, oxidation, and many others. The oxidation processes seem to be particularly effective because they use in situ generated highly reactive radicals, mainly hydroxyl radicals. However, nowadays, other radicals, such as sulfate chlorine radicals, as well organic radicals, are also used in AOPs. Recently, ferrate(VI) and peroxyacetic acids have found wide application in AOPs. Pharmaceuticals are often designed to be persistent in order to interact with living organisms at very low concentrations. Only highly reactive species (often generated using UV-irradiation) can cause degradation of pharmaceuticals. Conventional wastewater treatment plant (WWTPs) are not designed to remove pharmaceuticals and its metabolites. Furthermore, veterinary pharmaceutical used in agriculture and aquaculture are often directly flushed into the environment. Pharmaceuticals are not completely removed by drinking water treatment plants; thus, the presence of their residuals and metabolites in the environment may pose a threat to human health. Moreover, the presence of certain pharmaceuticals in the environment may induce antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, there is a need for new treatment technologies to reduce the emission of pharmaceuticals into the environment. The main objective of this Special Issue is to publish outstanding papers presenting the latest research in the field of removal pharmaceuticals and its metabolites by different physicochemical processes, especially those relating to water, wastewater, and sediments.

The Special Issue aims at presenting a collection of review articles and research papers on the following, non-exhaustive list of topics:

  • Application of novel coagulants, flocculants and adsorbents for removal of pharmaceuticals;
  • Application of novel nanomaterials for removal of pharmaceuticals;
  • Application of chlorine and sulfate radicals for removal of pharmaceuticals;
  • Application of zero valent and hypervalent iron species for removal of pharmaceuticals;
  • Application of photolysis and photocatalysis for removal of pharmaceuticals;
  • Application of electrolysis based processes for removal of pharmaceuticals;
  • Application of electron beam and γ radiation for removal of pharmaceuticals;
  • Application of peroxides for removal of pharmaceuticals;
  • Application of photosensibilization processes for removal of pharmaceuticals;
  • Application of hydraulic cavitation processes for removal of pharmaceuticals;
  • Development and application of novel photocatalysts for removal of pharmaceuticals;
  • Formation of byproducts and their toxicity assessment during degradation of pharmaceuticals;
  • Economic and environmental evaluation of treatment processes.

Dr. Przemysław Drzewicz
Prof. Dr. Grzegorz Nałęcz-Jawecki
Dr. Maciej Thomas
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • coagulation
  • flocculation
  • degradation products
  • advanced oxidation processes
  • photolysis
  • photocatalysis
  • toxicity
  • pharmaceuticals
  • adsorption

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 645 KiB  
Article
Wastewater Characterization: Chemical Oxygen Demand or Total Organic Carbon Content Measurement?
by László Wojnárovits, Renáta Homlok, Krisztina Kovács, Anna Tegze and Ezsébet Takács
Molecules 2024, 29(2), 405; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29020405 - 14 Jan 2024
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3094
Abstract
The long time (2 h) required for measurement, expensive chemicals (Ag2SO4), and toxic reagents (K2Cr2O7, HgSO4) limit the application of the standard method for measuring the oxygen equivalent of organic content [...] Read more.
The long time (2 h) required for measurement, expensive chemicals (Ag2SO4), and toxic reagents (K2Cr2O7, HgSO4) limit the application of the standard method for measuring the oxygen equivalent of organic content in wastewater (chemical oxygen demand, COD). In recent years, the COD has increasingly been replaced by the total organic carbon (TOC) parameter. Since the limit values of the pollution levels are usually given in terms of the COD, efforts are being made to find the correlation between these parameters. Several papers have published correlation analyses of COD and TOC for industrial and municipal wastewater, but the relationship has not been discussed for individual chemicals. Here, this relationship was investigated using 70 contaminants (laboratory chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides). The calculated COD values, in most cases, agreed, within ~10%, with the experimental ones; for tetracyclines and some chloroaromatic molecules, the measured values were 20–50% lower than the calculated values. The COD/TOC ratios were between 2 and 3: for macrolides, they were ~3; for fluoroquinolones and tetracyclines, they were ~2. The molecular structure dependence of the ratio necessitates the establishing of the correlation on an individual basis. In advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), the ratio changes during degradation, limiting the application of TOC instead of COD. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Removal of Pharmaceuticals from Contaminated Water, Wastewater and Sediments)
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15 pages, 2868 KiB  
Article
Utilization of Fe-Ethylenediamine-N,N′-Disuccinic Acid Complex for Electrochemical Co-Catalytic Activation of Peroxymonosulfate under Neutral Initial pH Conditions
by Bolin Zhang, Yu Chen, Yongjian Wang, Igor Ying Zhang and Rongfu Huang
Molecules 2023, 28(17), 6290; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28176290 - 28 Aug 2023
Viewed by 1219
Abstract
The ethylenediamine-N,N′-disuccinic acid (EDDS) was utilized to form Fe-EDDS complex to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) in the electrochemical (EC) co-catalytic system for effective oxidation of naphthenic acids (NAs) under neutral pH conditions. 1-adamantanecarboxylic acid (ACA) was used as a model compound to represent NAs, [...] Read more.
The ethylenediamine-N,N′-disuccinic acid (EDDS) was utilized to form Fe-EDDS complex to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) in the electrochemical (EC) co-catalytic system for effective oxidation of naphthenic acids (NAs) under neutral pH conditions. 1-adamantanecarboxylic acid (ACA) was used as a model compound to represent NAs, which are persistent pollutants that are abundantly present in oil and gas field wastewater. The ACA degradation rate was significantly enhanced in the EC/PMS/Fe(III)-EDDS system (96.6%) compared to that of the EC/PMS/Fe(III) system (65.4%). The addition of EDDS led to the formation of a stable complex of Fe-EDDS under neutral pH conditions, which effectively promoted the redox cycle of Fe(III)-EDDS/Fe(II)-EDDS to activate PMS to generate oxidative species for ACA degradation. The results of quenching and chemical probe experiments, as well as electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) analysis, identified significant contributions of •OH, 1O2, and SO4•− in the removal of ACA. The ACA degradation pathways were revealed based on the results of high resolution mass spectrometry analysis and calculation of the Fukui index. The presence of anions, such as NO3−, Cl−, and HCO3−, as well as humic acids, induced nonsignificant influence on the ACA degradation, indicating the robustness of the current system for applications in authentic scenarios. Overall results indicated the EC/PMS/Fe(III)-EDDS system is a promising strategy for the practical treatment of NAs in oil and gas field wastewater. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Removal of Pharmaceuticals from Contaminated Water, Wastewater and Sediments)
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22 pages, 13598 KiB  
Article
Determination and Removal of Selected Pharmaceuticals and Total Organic Carbon from Surface Water by Aluminum Chlorohydrate Coagulant
by Joanna Kuc, Maciej Thomas, Iwona Grochowalska, Rafał Kulczyk, Gabriela Mikosz, Fabian Mrózek, Dagmara Janik, Justyna Korta and Karolina Cwynar
Molecules 2022, 27(17), 5740; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27175740 - 5 Sep 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2502
Abstract
In the present research, the removal of Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and erythromycin (ERY), fluoxetine (FLX), amoxicillin (AMO), colistin (COL), ethynylestradiol (EE), and diclofenac (DIC) from surface water by coagulation is studied. The concentration of selected pharmaceuticals in 24 surface water samples originating [...] Read more.
In the present research, the removal of Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and erythromycin (ERY), fluoxetine (FLX), amoxicillin (AMO), colistin (COL), ethynylestradiol (EE), and diclofenac (DIC) from surface water by coagulation is studied. The concentration of selected pharmaceuticals in 24 surface water samples originating from some rivers located in Lesser Poland Voivodeship and Silesia Voivodeship, Poland, was determined. The removal of TOC and pharmaceuticals was carried out using the application of Design of Experiments (DOE), Response Surface Methodology (RSM), and by addition of aluminum chlorohydrate (ACH) as a coagulant. The study found that the concentration ranges of ERY, FLX, AMO, COL, EE, and DIC in analyzed water samples were 7.58–412.32, 1.21–72.52, 1.22–68.55, 1.28–32.01, 5.36–45.56, 2.20–182.22 ng/L, respectively. In some cases, concentrations lower than 1 ng/L were determined. In optimal conditions of coagulation process of spiked surface water (pH = 6.5 ± 0.1, ACH dose = 0.35 mL/L, Time = 30 min; R2 = 0.8799, R2adj = 0.7998), the concentration of TOC, ERY, FLX, AMO, COL, EE, and DIC was decreased by 88.7, 36.4, 24.7, 29.0, 25.5, 35.4, 30.4%, respectively. Simultaneously, turbidity, color, Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Nitrogen (Total N), and Ammonium-Nitrogen (N-NH4) were decreased by 96.2%, >98.0%, 97.8%, 70.0%, 88.7%, 37.5%, respectively. These findings suggest that ACH may be an optional reagent to remove studied pharmaceuticals from contaminated water. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Removal of Pharmaceuticals from Contaminated Water, Wastewater and Sediments)
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Review

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27 pages, 2771 KiB  
Review
The Potential of Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasmas for the Direct Degradation of Organic Pollutants Derived from the Food Production Industry
by Piotr Cyganowski, Dominik Terefinko, Agata Motyka-Pomagruk, Weronika Babinska-Wensierska, Mujahid Ameen Khan, Tymoteusz Klis, Wojciech Sledz, Ewa Lojkowska, Piotr Jamroz, Pawel Pohl, Magda Caban, Monica Magureanu and Anna Dzimitrowicz
Molecules 2024, 29(12), 2910; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29122910 - 19 Jun 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1290
Abstract
Specialized chemicals are used for intensifying food production, including boosting meat and crop yields. Among the applied formulations, antibiotics and pesticides pose a severe threat to the natural balance of the ecosystem, as they either contribute to the development of multidrug resistance among [...] Read more.
Specialized chemicals are used for intensifying food production, including boosting meat and crop yields. Among the applied formulations, antibiotics and pesticides pose a severe threat to the natural balance of the ecosystem, as they either contribute to the development of multidrug resistance among pathogens or exhibit ecotoxic and mutagenic actions of a persistent character. Recently, cold atmospheric pressure plasmas (CAPPs) have emerged as promising technologies for degradation of these organic pollutants. CAPP-based technologies show eco-friendliness and potency for the removal of organic pollutants of diverse chemical formulas and different modes of action. For this reason, various types of CAPP-based systems are presented in this review and assessed in terms of their constructions, types of discharges, operating parameters, and efficiencies in the degradation of antibiotics and persistent organic pollutants. Additionally, the key role of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) is highlighted. Moreover, optimization of the CAPP operating parameters seems crucial to effectively remove contaminants. Finally, the CAPP-related paths and technologies are further considered in terms of biological and environmental effects associated with the treatments, including changes in antibacterial properties and toxicity of the exposed solutions, as well as the potential of the CAPP-based strategies for limiting the spread of multidrug resistance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Removal of Pharmaceuticals from Contaminated Water, Wastewater and Sediments)
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