The presence of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), flame retardants (FRs), pesticides, and artificial sweeteners (ASWs) in the aquatic environments remains a major challenge to the environment and human health. In this review, the classification and occurrence of emerging contaminants in aquatic environments were discussed in detail. It is well documented that CECs are susceptible to poor removal during the conventional wastewater treatment plants, which introduce them back to the environment ranging from nanogram per liter (e.g., carbamazepine) up to milligram per liter (e.g., acesulfame) concentration level. Meanwhile, a deep insight into the application of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) on mitigation of the CECs from aquatic environment was presented. In this regard, the utilization of various treatment technologies based on AOPs including ozonation, Fenton processes, sonochemical, and TiO heterogeneous photocatalysis was reviewed. Additionally, some innovations (e.g., visible light heterogeneous photocatalysis, electro-Fenton) concerning the AOPs and the combined utilization of AOPs (e.g., sono-Fenton) were documented.

In the present study, powder activated carbon (PAC) combined with Fe(3)O(4) magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs) were used for the preparation of magnetic composites (MNPs-PAC), which was used as an adsorbent for amoxicillin (AMX) removal. The properties of magnetic activated carbon were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Brunaeur, Emmett and Teller and vibrating sample magnetometer. The operational factors affecting adsorption such as pH, contact time, adsorbent dosage, initial AMX concentration and temperature were studied in detail. The high surface area and saturation magnetization for the synthesized adsorbent were found to be 671.2 m(2)/g and 6.94 emu/g, respectively. The equilibrium time of the adsorption process was 90 min. Studies of adsorption equilibrium and kinetic models revealed that the adsorption of AMX onto MNPs-PAC followed Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms and pseudo-second-order kinetic models. The calculated values of the thermodynamic parameters, such as ΔG°, ΔH° and ΔS° demonstrated that the AMX adsorption was endothermic and spontaneous in nature. It could be concluded that MNPs-PAC have a great potential for antibiotic removal from aquatic media.

Covid-19 Pandemic leads to medical services for the society all over the world. The Covid-19 pandemic influence the waste management and specially medical waste management. In this study, the effect of the Covid-19 outbreak on medical waste was evaluated via assessing the solid waste generation, composition, and management status in five hospitals in Iran. The results indicated that the epidemic Covid-19 leads to increased waste generation on average 102.2 % in both private and public hospitals. In addition, the ratio of infectious waste in the studied hospitals increased by an average of 9 % in medical waste composition and 121 % compared with before COVID-19 pandemic. Changes in plans and management measurement such as increasing the frequency of waste collection per week leads to lower the risk of infection transmission from medical waste in the studied hospitals. The results obtained from the present research clearly show the changes in medical waste generation and waste composition within pandemic Covid-19. In addition, established new ward, Covid-19 ward with high-infected waste led to new challenges which should be managed properly by change in routine activities.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has an adverse effect on the environment. This epidemic’s effect on the waste composition and management and the impacts of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) on disease transmission or controlling are considered a compelling experience of living in the COVID-19 pandemic that can effectively control the process. This systematic review research was conducted to determine the effects of COVID-19 on the quantity of waste and MSWM. Searches were conducted in three databases (using keywords covid 19, coronaviruses, and waste), and among the published articles from 2019 to 2021, 56 ones were selected containing information on the quantity and waste management during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results showed that COVID-19 caused the quantity variation and composition change of MSW. COVID-19 also has significant effects on waste recycling, medical waste management, quantity, and littered waste composition. On the other hand, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed waste compounds’ management activities and waste generation sources. Recognizing these issues can help plan MSWM more efficiently and reduce virus transmission risk through waste.

Magnetic separation technology has been extensively used in the field of environmental problems, due to solving difficulties resulted from filtration and centrifuging. In this study, powder activated carbon (PAC) was magnetized by magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4@C) as an adsorbent for lead ions (Pb2+) from aqueous solution. The characteristics of the modified PAC were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X‐ray diffractometry, Brunauer‐Emmett‐Teller surface area analysis, energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometry. Batch adsorption experiments were conducted as a function of pH, contact time, adsorbent dosage and initial Pb2+ concentration, and solution temperature. The equilibrium isotherm and kinetic models were used to evaluate the fitness of the experimental data. The maximum mono‐layer adsorption capacity of Pb2+ was 71.42 mg/g at 50°C. It could also be shown that the sorption isotherms were well described by the Langmuir equilibrium model. The kinetic of the adsorption process was found to follow the pseudo‐second‐order model expression. Thermodynamic studies indicated that the adsorption process was feasible, spontaneous, and endothermic. Desorption experiments exhibited that the Fe3O4@C had a good potential in regard to regeneration and reusability and is easily regenerated by HCl solution. The proposed adsorption process can be a promising technique for Pb2+ removal from aqueous solutions and to be used in full‐scale and industrial applications.

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