Topic: Pioneering Sustainable Solutions for Pharmaceuticals Removal from Wastewater

Pharmaceuticals are a significant class of emerging contaminants that pose serious concerns because their presence in natural waters can cause adverse physiological effects in non-targeted individuals. The production and consumption of these compounds have surged during the last decades, leading to their increased presence in wastewater. Unfortunately, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have not been able to keep pace with this increase. Conventional WWTPs were not designed to remove pharmaceuticals effectively, making their effluents a main source of environmental contamination. With the anticipated continued increase in pharmaceutical use due to global population growth, aging, and improved access to healthcare, it is crucial to address their release to prevent detrimental impacts on the environment, ecosystems, and human health. Therefore, new regulations for wastewater treatment are expected. In this context, developing and implementing efficient treatments for removing pharmaceuticals from wastewater is imperative. In a world with finite natural resources, such treatments should strive to meet sustainability criteria at environmental, economic, social, and technical levels.

This Special Issue focuses on innovative and sustainable treatments for removing pharmaceuticals from wastewater. It aims to cover a wide range of topics, including novel and sustainable solutions, the assessment of their performance and/or (toxic) effects on the environment and human health, and compliance with future regulatory standards.

Topics

We invite researchers to contribute their findings on sustainable wastewater treatments for pharmaceuticals removal to this Special Issue. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

● Sustainable processes and/or materials;

● Advances in bioremediation and phytoremediation-based treatments;

● Novel insights into advanced wastewater treatments;

● Case studies and real-world applications of innovative treatments; 

● Impacts on the environment and human health;

● Ecotoxicological risk assessments of treated wastewater;

● Toxicity approaches to evaluate pharmaceuticals removal efficiency;

● Life cycle assessments of processes and/or materials;

● Wastewater safety and reuse.

Contaminants of emerging concern, active pharmaceutical ingredients, advanced wastewater treatments, wastewater reuse, safe water, sustainability

20 May 2025