ABSTRACT Pharmaceutical wastewater comprises of a plethora of raw and finished pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). The most alarming issue with pharmaceutical wastewater is the recalcitrant and emerging nature of the substances present in it. An amalgamation of conventional wastewater treatment techniques with that of a novel advanced technique seems to be a promising alternative for the remediation of pharmaceutical wastewater containing emerging contaminants. The method presented in the manuscript consists of a series of treatment units comprising neutralization, coarse and fine filtration, photocatalysis, biological treatment, and supernatant separation (1‐PCAB). These trials gave a high reduction efficiency of chemical oxygen demand (COD 71%), and removal of nitrates (100%) at neutral pH. The changes in concentration of chlorides, total dissolved solids, nitrites, and final pH have also been studied. The method gave a scarce removal at an acidic pH, and maximum removal was obtained at neutral pH. The same process was studied at twice the duration, keeping other similar operating conditions, and has been mentioned as 2‐PCAB. The fate of the pharmaceutical compounds at the end of 2‐PCAB has been meticulously examined and critically evaluated in the study.
Joshi et al. (Sun,) studied this question.