Review: The Treatment of Pharmaceutical Waste

The pharmaceutical industry plays an important role in improving human health and quality of life; however, it also contributes to environmental pollution through the release of pharmaceutical wastes into water and soil systems and these contaminants originate from different sources, including manufacturing processes, hospitals, households, and agricultural activities, and are often not completely removed by conventional wastewater treatment. As a result, they persist in the environment, causing risks to aquatic life, human health and the environment. Biological treatment has an effective, eco-friendly, and economical step for pharmaceutical and industrial wastewater management. In this method, microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, algae, and yeast are used to degrade organic pollutants into simpler and less harmful products like carbondioxide, water, biomass, and biogas under controlled conditions. The process is broadly classified into aerobic and anaerobic treatment, each suitable for different wastewater characteristics. Various techniques, including Activated Sludge Process, Sequential Batch Reactor, Trickling Filter, Membrane Bioreactor, Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor, and advanced anaerobic systems such as UASB and EGSB, are widely used for efficient pollutant removal. Despite certain limitations, biological treatment remains a sustainable solution for minimizing environmental and health impacts of pharmaceutical waste.