Removal of pharmaceutical contaminants in water and wastewater by activated carbon

By increasing the consumption of drugs, separating the pharmaceutical compounds from wastewater is a new challenge for environmental engineering. If pharmaceutical compounds remain in wastewaters, they can pollute the environment including river and sees. Pharmaceutical contaminants will be harmful for micron creatures such as bacteria and algae. These pollutions will be return to drinking water of human and will be dangerous and cause to antibiotic resistance. This study attempts to discuss the adsorption by activated carbon as one of the useful methods for removing contaminants from wastewater. Different sources of materials that are used to produce activated carbon were summarized in this article. Various pharmaceutical compounds that are adsorbed by different activated carbon types were studied in recent researches. The effects of some important factors such as initial concentration of adsorbate, contact time, pH and Octanol-water partition coefficient (Kow) were discussed. Also, adsorption isotherm models that are used in each pharmaceutical contaminate were summarized. Activated carbon surface area and maximum adsorption capacity in each recent study were tabulated. The BET surface areas of these adsorbers are in the range of 405 to 1505 m2/gr. In addition, functional groups that are detected in each activated carbon type were summarized. Ultimately, because the pharmaceutical compounds are often organic compounds and the activated carbon is a suitable adsorber for organic compounds, as a result it can be useful for removing pharmaceutical contaminants in water and wastewater.

Keywords:

Activated carbon , Adsorption , Wastewater , Pharmaceutical contaminants , Environmental pollutants