Page 137 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

118 Life Cycle Assessment of Wastewater Treatment

7.1 INTRODUCTION
Pharmaceuticals are a group of compounds that have attracted increasing atten-
tion over the past decade. There are many different compound classes, which are
intended to affect specific areas of disease. Pharmaceutical items have been widely
used in many fields, for example, medicine, industry, the cultivation of domesticated
animals, aquaculture, and people’s day-to day lives. They are becoming universal
in the environment because of their broad applications (Wang and Wang, 2016).
Pharmaceutical items include a wide variety of natural preparations, for example,
cleansers, salves, toothpaste, scents, sunscreens, and so forth, which are generally
used in large quantities all over the world. Pharmaceutical items are among a group
of chemicals named contaminants of rising concern (CRC). CRCs are not really new
toxins, as they have been available in the world for quite a while; however, their pres-
ence and importance are just now being assessed (Daughton, 2001). This extensive
variety of pharmaceuticals reaching the oceanic environment could affect exposed
organisms, more specifically in coastal and marine ecosystems (Crane et al., 2006;
Fent et al., 2006; Coetsier et al., 2009). Pharmaceutical products can be divided into
a few classes based on their different purposes. Each of these classes includes many
products. The particular classes, their related purposes, and the principal properties
of pharmaceutical products are shown in Table 7.1. A more clarified portrayal in
view of crude materials, last items, and uniqueness of plants, has been endeavoured.
The classes are based on the similarity of compound procedures and medications
and, additionally, certain classes of things. In light of the procedures required for
their manufacture, pharmaceutical enterprises can be subdivided into the following
five noteworthy subcategories:

• Fermentation plants
• Organic chemical synthesis plants
• Organic chemical fermentation/synthesis plants (generally moderate to
large plants)
• Natural/biological product extraction plants (antibiotics/vitamins/enzymes,
etc.)
• Drug mixing, formulation, and preparation plants (tablets, capsules, solu-
tions, etc.)

The production of these drugs continues to increase because of the huge demand
for pharmaceutical products to prevent or cure sickness.
Regarding environmental pollution concerns, the levels of pharmaceuticals
released into the earth from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) may nega-
tively affect the biological community (Niemuth and Klaper, 2015; Blair et al.,
2015). Recently, it has become clear that the elimination of certain pharmaceuti-
cal compounds during wastewater treatment processes is rather low, and as a
result, they are found in surface, ground, and drinking waters. Pharmaceutical
products can be discharged into the environment by two means: (1) direct (sur-
face water) and (2) indirect pathways (ground water). For this reason, pharma-
ceuticals may be able to cause the same harmful exposure potential as persistent