Review article

New micropollutants in the aquatic environment

Antonija Tomić orcid.org/0000-0001-8934-6232 ; Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Fakultet kemijskog inženjerstva i tehnologije, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Hrvoje Kušić ; Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Fakultet kemijskog inženjerstva i tehnologije, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Tomislav Bolanča ; Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Fakultet kemijskog inženjerstva i tehnologije, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Ana Lončarić Božić orcid.org/0000-0001-5853-5313 ; Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Fakultet kemijskog inženjerstva i tehnologije, Zagreb, Hrvatska

Abstract

Pharmaceuticals, in addition to other micropollutants such as pesticides and microplastics, are among the new contaminants of emerging concern. The presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment is a consequence of their production, their use in treatment and in food production, and their improper disposal. The release of pharmaceuticals into the aquatic environment may result in their uptake into the food chain. Consequently, human exposure to pharmaceuticals from the environment has been linked to the consumption of plant and animal origin food and to drinking water. Studies have so far detected numerous pharmaceuticals in the environment and determined their concentrations; however, very little is known about how they behave and where they end up in the environment, or about their negative impact on human health. Research into the presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment is very important from environmental aspects, so that maximum permissible concentrations of pharmaceuticals in water could be regulated in the future. The concentration and impact of pharmaceuticals in the environment mostly depend on their physico-chemical properties and environmental parameters, the sources of pollution and implemented wastewater treatment technologies. Discharges from wastewater treatment plants have been identified as one of the main sources of the pharmaceuticals’ release into the environment, since the conventional treatment methods are insufficiently effective in their removal from wastewater. For this reason, hybrid technologies that include advanced treatment methods, such as advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), show great potential in view of finding solutions to the problem of the release of pharmaceuticals and other micropollutants into the aquatic environment.

Keywords

new micropollutants; pharmaceuticals; environmental factors; water treatment methods; AOPs

Hrčak ID:

274286

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/274286

Publication date:

30.12.2021.

Article data in other languages: croatian german

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