Application of Nanomaterials for Treatment of Wastewater Containing Pharmaceuticals

Abstract

Nanotechnology offers the opportunity of efficiently removing several types of pollutants present in today’s wastewater. There are several different nanomaterials available (carbon nanotubes, graphene, graphene oxide, metal oxides, nanoclays, among several others) which have been explored for wastewater remediation. Pharmaceuticals and personal care products such as antibiotics, hormones, antipyretic drugs, triclosan, etc. represent an emerging type of pollutant in surface and drinking water; and exposure represents a risk for both environment and human health. As conventional technologies used for wastewater treatment do not completely remove these residues, nanomaterials may offer an efficient alternative for water treatment and remediation systems in place of conventional technologies. This chapter provides a comprehensive summary of several nanomaterials that, due to their unique physical and chemical properties, are useful in different remediation approaches for the removal of such emerging contaminants from wastewater. Water treatments like adsorption/absorption of contaminants and photocatalysis from advanced oxidation processes that use nanomaterials to increase their efficiency are addressed in this chapter. Nanomaterials are promising components in the development of innovative and efficient environmental cleaning processes and water purification.