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Adsorption

A review on antibiotics pervasiveness in the environment and their removal from wastewater

ORCID Icon, ORCID Icon &
Pages 326-344 | Received 15 Feb 2022, Accepted 01 Aug 2022, Published online: 11 Aug 2022
 

ABSTRACT

The production and utilization of antibiotics is increasing every year. Overuse, inappropriate disposal, and leakage from production sites leads to the pervasiveness of their residues and toxic intermediates in wastewater and surface water. This paper summarizes the present state of antibiotics in the aquatic environment present around the world and the recent researches in the direction of their removal. Traditional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) cannot altogether remove many antibiotics due to inadequate treatment processes. As a result, an effective, cost-efficient, quick, operationally practical, and environmentally acceptable solution to remove antibiotics is required. Adsorption has been proved one of the most viable alternatives among other techniques. The adsorption behavior of some widely used antibiotics across different materials is critically discussed in this paper. In addition, the effects of several factors affecting the adsorption process are also analyzed. Future research directions for antibiotic elimination from aqueous medium are also highlighted. Toxicity studies of degraded hazardous antibiotic metabolites are essential, and their viable chemical conversion into economically attractive organic chemicals is the need of the day.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Abbreviations

AC=

Activated carbon

AOPs=

Advanced oxidation processes

APIs=

Active pharmaceutical ingredients

ARB=

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria

ARG=

Antibiotic-resistant genes

CNTs=

Carbon nanotubes

IBEF=

Indian brand equity foundation

IMBBR=

Integrated moving bed bioreactor

MRSA=

Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus

MWCNT=

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes

NA=

Not available

WHO=

World Health Organization

WWTP=

Wastewater treatment plant

Highlights

  • Current global occurrence/status of antibiotics is presented.

  • Recent researches on removal techniques of antibiotics are reviewed.

  • The adsorption behavior of different antibiotics is critically discussed.

  • Future environmental research initiatives on antibiotics have been highlighted.

Acknowledgement

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. However, one of the authors (AG) expresses her gratitude to MNIT Jaipur and Ministry of Education, Govt. of India for providing the financial support in the form of Institute Fellowship for carrying out Ph. D. research work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

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