Treatment of pharmaceutical pollutants from industrial wastewater

Pharmaceutical products are produced in both batch and continuous processes and the by-products and waste products generated in different operations can be toxic to the environment. Lots of water is used for washing of solid cake, or extraction, or washing of equipment. There are two different sources from where these compounds enter the drinking water namely the manufacturing processes followed by the industry and huge targeting as pharmaceutical products by human mankind resulting in their release in urban and rural drainage systems. Since the whole world is facing water scarcity, these industries need to recycle the wastewater by removing the contaminants so that there is no need to use freshwater. Here we are trying to focus the physicochemical processes like coagulation and sedimentation, floatation, adsorption, and Fenton method; aerobic biological treatment method; high-temperature oxidation methods like wet air oxidation (WAO), supercritical water oxidation technology (SCWO), and incineration: use of membrane reactors and advanced post-treatment methods. There is no single method that can completely remove wastes generated from pharmaceutical industries. Therefore, the use of conventional treatment methods along with advanced methods mentioned above is required and a complete analysis of the kind of production system followed by the industry and the type of raw materials used in production is compulsory before we standardize a hybrid treatment technology and lead to understand its use and will alter the scene of a new scenario.