Removal of emerging contaminants from wastewater using advanced treatments. A review

Abstract

The rise of emerging contaminants in waters challenges the scientific community and water treatment stakeholders to design remediation techniques that are simple, practical, inexpensive, effective, and environmentally friendly. Emerging contaminants include antibiotics, hormones, illicit drugs, endocrine disruptors, cosmetics, personal care products, pesticides, surfactants, industrial products, microplastics, nanoparticles, and nanomaterials. Removing those contaminants is not easy because classical wastewater treatment systems are not designed to handle emerging contaminants, and contaminants often occur as traces in complex organo-mineral mixtures. Here, we review advanced treatments for the removal of emerging contaminants in wastewater, with focus on adsorption-oriented processes using non-conventional adsorbents such as cyclo-dextrin polymers, metal-organic frameworks, molecularly imprinted polymers, chitosan, and nanocellulose. We describe biological-based technologies for the degradation and removal of emerging contaminants. Then, we present advanced oxida-tion processes as the most promising strategies because of their simplicity and efficiency.

Nanomaterials with Excellent Adsorption Characteristics for Sample Pretreatment: A Review

“…MOF is a new type of organic–inorganic hybrid crystalline porous material with a regular pore or hole structure, which is formed by the connection between an inorganic metal and an organic functional group through a coordination bond, hydrogen bond, π bond, and so on [ 79 ]. MOFs have the advantages of regular pore size, large adsorption capacity, high mechanical strength, wide range of morphology, and easy-to-modify properties [ 80 , 81 ]. Researchers can design the pore size and space layout of MOFs according to their needs, and then make specific modifications [ 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 ].…”

Remediation of pharmaceuticals from contaminated water by molecularly imprinted polymers: a review

“…The non-conventional adsorption approach based on molecularly imprinted polymers offers a valid technology for the selective removal of specific target pollutants in (waste)water treatment. Molecularly imprinted polymers are constructed using molecular imprinting technology, which results in precise three-dimensional cavities aligned with the polymer substrates’ template molecules (Morin-Crini et al 2022 ).…”

High removal of nitrogen and phosphorus from black-odorous water using a novel aeration-adsorption system

“…Currently, the most common treatment methods for black odorous water are either in situ or through external treatment (Morin-Crini et al 2022;Sun et al 2020). The in situ treatment technology employs physical, chemical, or biological measures to reduce the volume of pollutants as well as their content, and the solubility, toxicity and migration of pollutants.…”

“…Dealing with the sediment that has been removed from the water body is also a difficult problem (Hong 2011). Therefore, in situ remediation technologies are the most cost-effective approach (Morin- Crini et al 2022) and a variety of methods include: the management of the hydraulic cycle (Guo et al 2020), enhanced flocculation (Luan et al 2002), microbial remediation technology (Zheng et al 2021), artificial floating islands (Lu et al 2015), and ecological wetland technology (Cai et al 2021). These methods, however, are not suitable for continuous and efficient water purification under complex conditions, and they are prone to secondary pollution.…”