Removal of pharmaceutically active compounds from wastewater using adsorption coupled with electrochemical oxidation technology: A critical review

Pharmaceutical contaminants are emerging pollutants of concern that pose significant risks to human health and the environment. Adsorption has become increasingly significant in recent years due to its high removal efficiency of non-biodegradable pharmaceutical contaminants. Adsorption process is rela-tively simple and easy to operate, effectively removing pharmaceutical contaminants from wastewater without incurring significant capital costs. On the other hand, electrochemical oxidation technology is one of the most critical electrochemical advanced oxidation processes (EAOPs) to degrade pharmaceuti-cal compounds in wastewater. It has been proven effective in treating natural wastewater containing pharmaceutical contaminants. When combined with adsorption technology, it can improve the techno-economic feasibility and environmental viability, especially for an industrial-scale pharmaceuti-cal wastewater treatment process. The challenges of treating pharmaceutical residues in complex wastewater are due to its resistance to biodegradation in conventional wastewater treatment plants. However, the benefits of combining multiple treatment processes can lead to high removal efficiency of pharmaceutical pollutants, minimise energy consumption and eliminate the use of unnecessary chem-ical reagents. Most importantly, this review emphasises the optimisation of process variables for max-imising the degradation efficiency of pharmaceutical pollutants. Finally, the future perspectives of combined technologies were discussed to provide new recommendations for future research directions.& COPY; 2023 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.