Technology Development for the Removal of Covid-19 Pharmaceutical Active Compounds from Water and Wastewater: A Review

Abstract

The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak has given rise to an inevitable worldwide application of a wide variety of drugs. Some of these pharmaceutical compounds pass through water and wastewater treatment processes and appear in treated water, wastewater and biosolids. These have posed potential risks to the water quality of aquatic ecosystems and public health. As a result, the failure to lessen coronavirus drugs’ negative environmental impacts is the subject of criticism. Hence, there is an urgent need for water utilities to upgrade their existing water and wastewater treatment processes to increase the removal efficiencies of these emerging micropollutants from coronavirus drugs, especially endocrine disruptor compounds. This review paper will present different treatment technologies that may be used in water and wastewater treatment plants to further remove pharmaceutical micropollutants from coronavirus drugs. Also, different classes of these drugs, their occurrence, and risks to aquatic ecosystems and human health have been discussed in the current study.

Keywords: Covid-19, coronavirus, aquatic ecosystems, environmental risk, health risk, occurrence, pharmaceutical active compound, removal processes, water and wastewater