A review of Pharmaceuticals removal from water resources using magnetic iron-based nanomaterials

The presence of pharmaceuticals in water resources is a growing concern worldwide due to their potential health impacts on aquatic life and humans. Therefore, there is a need to develop effective and sustainable technologies for removing these contaminants from water and wastewater. Magnetic nanomaterials have emerged as promising materials for this purpose due to their fast kinetics, easy magnetic separation, and reuse. This review is important as it highlights the significance of developing sustainable technologies using magnetic iron- based nanomaterials for removing pharmaceutical contaminants from water resources. This review investigated the application of magnetic nanomaterials for removing pharmaceuticals from water resources through adsorption and advanced oxidation processes. Here, the synthesis and characterization of magnetic nanomaterials and analytical detection techniques were evaluated. The review findings indicate that magnetic nanomaterials effectively removed pharmaceuticals from water through adsorption and advanced oxidation processes. More importantly, the removal processes remained effective for many cycles. However, only 22% of the studies demonstrated the application of magnetic nanomaterials on real water samples, as 78% stopped at experiments using distilled water in the laboratory. Further research on multi-component systems and real water samples is necessary to fully evaluate the potential of magnetic nanomaterials for pharmaceutical removal from water resources.