Physico-chemical treatment for the degradation of cyanotoxins with emphasis on drinking water treatment-How far have we come?

Over the years, various physicochemical treatment processes, such as photocatalysis, membrane technology, ozonolysis and chlorination have been tested at laboratory and pilot scale for the treatment of various cyanotoxins. Most of these treatment processes are also being commonly practiced in a drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs). However, the degree of treatment widely varies among cyanotoxin variants and is mainly governed by the source water characteristics, operational parameters (temperature, pH, cyanotoxin level) which changes continuously in a DWTPs. Other common elements present in raw water, such as natural organic matter (NOMs), residual nutrients and metal ions shows competitive behaviour with the cyanotoxins. Thus, a high demand in input energy is needed for unit operations, such as photocatalysis, reverse osmosis membrane and excess chemical requirement in terms of ozone, permanganate and chlorine (for ozonation and chlorination) which can breach the guidelines and increase the toxicity level. This review provides an insight into the effectiveness of major physico-chemical operations from simple to the advanced treatment level for the removal of different cyanotoxins along with their limitations and challenges in a DWTP. The goal of this review is to provide information on the possible reaction mechanism involved in the cyanotoxin treatment, accounting mainly for the toxicity, modifications in the process that happened over the years and the process feasibility. In future, hybrid technique assisted by UV, peroxides, among others promises to assist photocatalytic, ozonation and chlorination to undergo efficient cyanotoxin removal with reduced toxicity level. Also, persistence cyanotoxins, such as anatoxin and saxitoxin need further study.