Recent Trends in Removal Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products by Electrochemical Oxidation and Combined Systems

Abstract

Due to various potential toxicological threats to living organisms even at low concentrations, pharmaceuticals and personal care products in natural water are seen as an emerging environmental issue. The low efficiency of removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products by conventional wastewater treatment plants calls for more efficient technology. Research on advanced oxidation processes has recently become a hot topic as it has been shown that these technologies can effectively oxidize most organic contaminants to inorganic carbon through mineralization. Among the advanced oxidation processes, the electrochemical advanced oxidation processes and, in general, electrochemical oxidation or anodic oxidation have shown good prospects at the lab-scale for the elimination of contamination caused by the presence of residual pharmaceuticals and personal care products in aqueous systems. This paper reviewed the effectiveness of electrochemical oxidation in removing pharmaceuticals and personal care products from liquid solutions, alone or in combination with other treatment processes, in the last 10 years. Reactor designs and configurations, electrode materials, operational factors (initial concentration, supporting electrolytes, current density, temperature, pH, stirring rate, electrode spacing, and fluid velocity) were also investigated.