Pharmaceutical waste-water treatment via advanced oxidation based integrated processes: An engineering and economic perspective

The presence of pharmaceutical compounds (PCs) in aqueous systems poses a significant threat to ecological systems. Conventional methods are inadequate in removing these compounds from wastewater due to their unique properties, such as lipophilicity, volatility, polarity, and persistence. To address this challenge, advanced oxidation-based integrated techniques have emerged as promising solutions for the effective degradation of PCs in aqueous systems. This study provides a critical review of advanced oxidation-based integrated techniques employed for the removal of PCs. Through comprehensive bibliographic analysis, valuable insights from global researchers' work are obtained. The integration of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) with other techniques, including adsorption, membrane filtration, and biological methods, is extensively examined and discussed. Furthermore, a comparative study is conducted to assess the treatment efficiency, versatility, sludge production and waste management, operational complexity, energy consumption, and treatment cost of different integrated systems. This analysis provides profound insights into the strengths and limitations of each approach. One of the significant contributions of this work is the study of the cost analysis of different AOP-based integrated methods. This analysis serves as a crucial guideline for selecting the most suitable integrated approach for efficient pollutant removal from diverse aqueous matrices. Finally, the future perspective on AOP-based integration techniques is defined to engage and inspire both current and prospective researchers in this field, fostering further advancements and innovations.