Fate, Transformation, and Toxicological Impacts of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products in Surface Waters

COVID-19 pandemic-related drugs and microplastics from mask fibers jointly affect soil functions and processes

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented increase in pharmaceutical drug consumption and plastic waste disposal from personal protective equipment. Most drugs consumed during the COVID-19 pandemic were used to treat other human and animal diseases. Hence, their nearly ubiquitous presence in the soil and the sharp increase in the last 3 years led us to investigate their potential impact on the environment. Similarly, the compulsory use of face masks has led to an enormous amount of plastic waste. Our study aims to investigate the combined effects of COVID-19 drugs and microplastics from FFP2 face masks on important soil processes using soil microcosm experiments. We used three null models (additive, multiplicative, and dominative models) to indicate potential interactions among different pharmaceutical drugs and mask MP. We found that the multiple-factor treatments tend to affect soil respiration and FDA hydrolysis more strongly than the individual treatments. We also found that mask microplastics when combined with pharmaceuticals caused greater negative effects on soil. Additionally, null model predictions show that combinations of high concentrations of pharmaceuticals and mask MP have antagonistic interactions on soil enzyme activities, while the joint effects of low concentrations of pharmaceuticals (with or without MP) on soil enzyme activities are mostly explained by null model predictions. Our study underscores the need for more attention on the environmental side effects of pharmaceutical contamination and their potential interactions with other anthropogenic global change factors.

Advanced oxidation and biological integrated processes for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment: A review

The stress of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) discharging to water bodies and the environment due to increased industrialization has reduced the availability of clean water. This poses a potential health hazard to animals and human life because water contamination is a great issue to the climate, plants, humans, and aquatic habitats. Pharmaceutical compounds are quantified in concentrations ranging from ng/Lto μg/L in aquatic environments worldwide. According to (Alsubih et al., 2022), the concentrations of carbamazepine, sulfamethoxazole, Lutvastatin, ciprofloxacin, and lorazepam were 616-906 ng/L, 16,532-21635 ng/L, 694-2068 ng/L, 734-1178 ng/L, and 2742-3775 ng/L respectively. Protecting and preserving our environment must be well-driven by all sectors to sustain development. Various methods have been utilized to eliminate the emerging pollutants, such as adsorption and biological and advanced oxidation processes. These methods have their benefits and drawbacks in the removal of pharmaceuticals. Successful wastewater treatment can save the water bodies; integrating green initiatives into the main purposes of actor firms, combined with continually periodic awareness of the current and potential implications of environmental/water pollution, will play a major role in water conservation. This article reviews key publications on the adsorption, biological, and advanced oxidation processes used to remove pharmaceutical products from the aquatic environment. It also sheds light on the pharmaceutical adsorption capability of adsorption, biological and advanced oxidation methods, and their efficacy in pharmaceutical concentration removal. A research gap has been identified for researchers to explore in order to eliminate the problem associated with pharmaceutical wastes. Therefore, future study should focus on combining advanced oxidation and adsorption processes for an excellent way to eliminate pharmaceutical products, even at low concentrations. Biological processes should focus on ideal circumstances and microbial processes that enable the simultaneous removal of pharmaceutical compounds and the effects of diverse environments on removal efficiency.

Effective removal of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug from wastewater by adsorption process using acid-treated Fagopyrum esculentum husk

In this work, buckwheat husks (Fagopyrum esculentum) were modified by acid treatment and posteriorly employed to remove the ketoprofen in batch adsorption. The characterization results indicated that a more irregular surface with new empty spaces was generated after acid treatment. The adsorptive process was favored at acidic pH = 3. The dosage of 0.85 g L^-1 was fixed for the kinetic and isothermal tests, obtaining good removal and capacity indications. The kinetic studies were better represented by pseudo-second-order, obtaining an experimental capacity of 74.3 mg g^-1 for 200 mg L^-1 of ketoprofen. An increase in temperature negatively affected the adsorption isotherm curves, resulting in a maximum capacity of 194.1 mg g^-1. Thermodynamic results confirmed the exothermic nature of the process with physical forces acting. The adsorbent presented high efficiency in treating a synthetic effluent containing different drugs and salts, 71.2%. Therefore, adsorbent development from buckwheat husks treated with a strong acid is an excellent alternative, given the good removal results and the low cost for its preparation.

Occurrence, fate, and toxicity of emerging contaminants in a diverse ecosystem

Activities that were developed for better/modern living conditions of humans are the primary source of contaminants to the natural ecosystem. Some of the compounds involved in urbanization and industrialization are termed emerging contaminants (ECs) or contaminants of emerging concern. ECs are either chemical or derived from natural sources which environmental concerns and public health have been raised in recent years. ECs enter wastewater treatment systems and migrate from here to different ecosystems as direct or by-products. They are persistent and also stay for a long duration due to their less biodegradation and photodegradation nature. Also, ECs accumulated in living cells and transformed through trophic levels. Technological developments and their application/utility in daily life led to the production of various components that are being added to the natural ecosystem. The treated/untreated wastewater enters into fresh/marine water bodies and gets accumulated into fauna, flora, and sediments. These pollutants/contaminants that are getting added on an everyday basis bring about changes in the existing ecosystem balances. ECs have been found in almost every country’s natural environment, and as a result, they became a global issue. The present review discusses the route and transport of selected ECs into the terrestrial ecosystem through water and other means and how they influence the natural process in an ecosystem. The ECs such as personal care products, pharmaceuticals, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, endocrine disruptors, nanoparticles, and microplastics are highlighted in this review.

Targeted eco-pharmacovigilance as an optimized management strategy for adverse effects of pharmaceuticals in the environment

From a perspective of drug administration, eco-pharmacovigilance (EPV) has been proposed as a new approach to prevent the environmental risks posed by pharmaceutical emerging contaminants. However, it is impracticable to practice unitary and rigor EPV process for all the pharmaceutical substances with complex and diversified chemical, biological or toxicological properties. We proposed the "targeted EPV" that is the science and activities associated with the targeted detection, evaluation, understanding, and prevention of adverse effects of high-priority hazardous pharmaceuticals in the environment, especially focusing on the control of main anthropogenic sources of pharmaceutical emission among key stakeholders in high-risk areas could be used as an optimized management strategy for pharmaceutical pollution. "Targeted EPV" implementation should focus on the targeted monitoring of the occurrence of high-priority pharmaceuticals in environmental samples, the targeted reporting of over-standard discharge, the targeted management for main emission sources, the targeted legislation and researches on high-priority pharmaceutical pollutants, as well as the targeted educational strategies for specific key populations.

Most relevant sources and emission pathways of pollution for selected pharmaceuticals in a catchment area based on substance flow analysis

The release of micropollutants in surface water depends on different sources and on different pathways. Through substance flow analysis, this study estimates the annual load of two pharmaceuticals (carbamazepine and sulfamethoxazole) in a catchment area, due to different emission pathways: wastewater treatment plant effluent, combined sewer overflows, and runoff from sludge and manure amended soil. It emerged that wastewater treatment plant effluent is the main emission pathway for carbamazepine (98.5% referring to the total released annual load) and land runoff (98%) for sulfamethoxazole. The study also investigates the parameters (including manure disposed on the land, removal efficiency and combined sewer overflow flowrate) which mostly influence the results, and those which are affected by higher uncertainty. The most uncertain parameters are those determining the fate of pharmaceuticals once in soil and surface water. The study concludes with a comparison between the predicted concentrations in different points of the receiving water body of the two key compounds, modeled with substance flow analysis, and those directly measured in a dedicated sampling campaign. The main discrepancies were found for sulfamethoxazole. Future research focusing on monitoring campaigns under different weather conditions and in different environmental compartments (soil and water) will certainly provide new insights in this kind of study.

Effects of Temperature, Solution pH, and Ball-Milling Modification on the Adsorption of Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs onto Biochar

This study explored the adsorption of representative non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), acetaminophen (AP), ibuprofen (IB), and salicylic acid (SA) by biochars. The sorption kinetics were fitted with six commonly used kinetic models, and the isotherm data was well described by both Langmuir and Freundlich models. Biochars of longer pyrolysis time showed better performance with the Langmuir maximum sorption capacities for AP, IB, and SA of 196 mg/g, 132 mg/g, and 48.8 mg/g, respectively. Variation in temperature hardly affected the adsorption performances, while the influence of pH exhibited pronounced dependency on physicochemical properties of both NSAIDs and biochars. Eighteen ball-milled (BM) biochars were then produced under different ball-milling conditions and examined for NSAIDs removal. Compared with unmilled biochars, BM-biochars produced under optimum conditions showed higher removal efficiencies. Electrostatic interaction and pore width of biochars greatly affected the NSAIDs adsorption onto biochars.

Recent advances on the development and application of magnetic activated carbon and char for the removal of pharmaceutical compounds from waters: A review

The adsorption of pharmaceutical substances using carbonaceous materials, such as activated carbon (AC), biochar (BC) and hydrochar (HC), has received substantial attention by researchers working on water treatment, due to the simplicity, low-cost and high performance of this process. In order to widen the potentiality of these carbonaceous materials and to overcome some of their limitations, particularly the inefficient separation of powdered formulations from treated water, the incorporation of magnetic nanoparticles has been explored. The recovery of magnetic carbon materials (MCM) from the treated water can be attained by applying an external magnetic field, avoiding inefficient and costly filtration and centrifugation processes, typically applied in the case of non-magnetic carbonaceous adsorbents. In the last ten years, some work has been devoted to the preparation of MCM specifically from AC (MC_ACM), biochar (MC_BCM) and hydrochar (MC_HCM). This review aims to present the different aspects of using MCM in water treatment, namely in the removal of pharmaceutical compounds. The synthesis routes used to produce MCM, their physical, morphologic and chemical features, and their application in the removal of these micro-organic contaminants from water will be assessed. The advantages and disadvantages of using MCM in water treatment, and their comparative performance with the carbonaceous non-magnetic precursors will be also discussed in this review.

A toxicological study on photo-degradation products of environmental ibuprofen: Ecological and human health implications

Increasing quantities of pharmaceutical waste in the environment have disrupted the balance of ecosystems, and may have subsequent effects on human health. Although a handful of previous studies have shown the impacts of pharmaceutically active compounds on the environment, the toxicological effects of their degradation products remain largely unknown. In the current study, the photo-degradation products of environmental ibuprofen were assessed for both ecotoxicological and human health effects using a series of in vitro assays. Here, six of the major degradation products are synthesized with high purity (>98%) and characterized with ¹HNMR, ¹³CNMR, FT-IR and HRMS. To evaluate human health effects, three gut microbiota species, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Enterococcus faecalis and Escherichia coli, and two human cell lines, HEK293T and HepG2, are exposed to various concentrations of ibuprofen and its degradation products. On L. acidophilus, the ibuprofen degradation product (±)-(2R,3R)-2-(4-isobutylphenyl)-5-methylhexan-3-ol shows a greater toxic effect while ibuprofen enhances its growth at lower concentrations. At higher concentrations, ibuprofen shows at least a 2-fold higher toxicity compared to that of its degradation products. However, E. faecalis shows little or no effect upon exposure to these compounds. An induction of the SOS response in E. coli is observed but limited to only ibuprofen and 4-acetylbenzoic acid. In human cell line studies, survival of both HEK293T and HepG2 cell lines is profoundly impaired by the photo-degradation products of (±)- (2R,3R)-2-(4-isobutylphenyl)-5-methylhexan-3-ol, (±)-(2R,3S)-2-(4-isobutylphenyl)-5-methylhexan-3-ol, and (±)-1-(4-(1-hydroxy-2methylpropyl)phenyl)ethan-1-one. In this work, the bioluminescence bacterium, Aliivibrio fischeri, is used as a model to assess environmental impact. Both ibuprofen and its degradation products inhibit the growth of this gram-negative bacteria with the primary compound showing the most significant impact. Overall, our results highlight that some of the degradation products of ibuprofen can be more toxic to human kidney cell line and liver cell line than the parent compound while ibuprofen can be more toxic to human gut microbiota and A. fischeri than ibuprofen degradation products.