Insights into Recent Advances of Biomaterials Based on Microbial Biomass and Natural Polymers for Sustainable Removal of Pharmaceuticals Residues

Abstract

Pharmaceuticals are acknowledged as emerging contaminants in water resources. The concentration of pharmaceutical compounds in the environment has increased due to the rapid development of the pharmaceutical industry, the increasing use of human and veterinary drugs, and the ineffectiveness of conventional technologies to remove pharmaceutical compounds from water. The application of biomaterials derived from renewable resources in emerging pollutant removal techniques constitutes a new research direction in the field. In this context, the article reviews the literature on pharmaceutical removal from water sources using microbial biomass and natural polymers in biosorption or biodegradation processes. Microorganisms, in their active or inactive form, natural polymers and biocomposites based on inorganic materials, as well as microbial biomass immobilized or encapsulated in polymer matrix, were analyzed in this work. The review examines the benefits, limitations, and drawbacks of employing these biomaterials, as well as the prospects for future research and industrial implementation. From these points of view, current trends in the field are clearly reviewed. Finally, this study demonstrated how biocomposites made of natural polymers and microbial biomass suggest a viable adsorbent biomaterial for reducing environmental pollution that is also efficient, inexpensive, and sustainable.

Adsorption of Levofloxacin onto Graphene Oxide/Chitosan Composite Aerogel Microspheres

“…With the development of modern industry, many emerging contaminants have been found in water resources. After traditional heavy-metal ions and various types of dyes, pharmaceuticals are the main emerging contaminants [1][2][3]. Among these pharmaceuticals, levofloxacin (LOF) has caused widespread concern.…”

Biocomposite Material Based on Lactococcus lactis sp. Immobilized in Natural Polymer Matrix for Pharmaceutical Removal from Aqueous Media

“…They now occur widely in the geosphere and biosphere and even in the polar regions, considered as the cleanest environment on Earth [15][16][17][18][19]. These are natural or synthetic substances that contain polar molecules with numerous ionizable groups, each with a distinct structure and function, and are either lipophilic or moderately soluble in water [20][21][22]. They are also divided into 24 therapeutic classes, with about 10,000 different pharmaceutical products containing 3000 to 4000 different active substances [23].…”

“…The main sources of pharmaceutical contamination of surface water, groundwater and drinking water include effluents from the pharmaceutical industry, hospitals and wastewater treatment plants, uncontrolled leachate from landfills and incorrect disposal of drugs [4,20,21]. The key problem is that wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are unable to entirely degrade drugs since they are usually designed to handle easily and moderately degradable organics in mg/L levels.…”

“…This can be explained by two factors: firstly, pharmaceutical products have a wide range of solubility, absorbability, volatility, biodegradability, polarity and stability values; secondly, they can be present and active at very low concentrations (ng/L-µg/L) [5,8,28]. As primary and secondary WWTP treatments are generally not able to remove these pollutants, leading to their migration into drinking water supplies, there is a need to create advanced and efficient tertiary treatment processes that allow the total removal of pharmaceutical residues from wastewater before its release into the environment, an aspect highlighted in numerous scientific works [2,4,5,21,29].…”

Photoluminous Response of Biocomposites Produced with Charcoal

“…Concerns about environmental safety, reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, biodegradability, and mitigation of solid waste have resulted in a boost in the production of materials that come from waste and, at the same time, are renewable by nature [ 10 , 11 , 12 ]. This action includes the so-called industrial symbiosis, where waste from one sector becomes a resource for the generation of a product from another industry, effectively contributing to greater productivity of resources and favoring the circular economy [ 13 , 14 , 15 ]. To promote efficiency, innovation, and sustainability, several studies are investigating the combination of renewable waste with other materials of synthetic origins, such as polymers, resulting in the generation of composite materials with more sustainable characteristics [ 11 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ].…”