Adsorptive remediation of pharmaceutical residues from wastewater: A review of strategies and policies

In the current era of rapid development, freshwater availability has emerged as a major challenge for both humans and animals. Pharmaceutical drugs, including antibiotics, NSAIDs, anticancer drugs, opioids, anti-inflammatory drugs, analgesics, and antidepressants, play a crucial role in treating and managing various diseases, and their global demand continues to increase. Therefore, pharmaceutical contaminants generated from various sources are increasing in the environment day by day. After drug use, pharmaceutical residues enter the human body as well as the environment and cause severe impacts on human and environmental health. Pharmaceutical residues increase AMR, endocrine disruption, reproductive problems, chronic organ stress, chronic systemic exposure, and toxicity. Various adsorption-based approaches can effectively remove pharmaceutical residues from the environment. This study reviews the occurrence, impacts, fate, and analysis of pharmaceutical contaminants in wastewater and suggests advanced treatment strategies for pharmaceutical residues. However, the novelty of the present review lies in its integrated approach to wastewater treatment.