Green Analytical Chemistry Laboratory, School of Chemical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
J Hazard Mater. 2021 Mar 15;406:124317. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124317. Epub 2020 Nov 2.
The presence of pharmaceuticals and endocrine-disrupting compounds in aquatic systems is a matter of great concern. The occurrence, fate, and potential toxicity of these compounds have triggered the interest of the scientific community. As a result of their high solubility and low volatility, they are common in aquatic systems, and wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) are the main reservoir for these contaminants. Conventional WWTPs have demonstrated an inability to remove these contaminants completely; hence, different advanced treatment processes have been explored to compensate for the lapses of the conventional system. The outcome of this study revealed the significant improvements made using advanced treatment processes to diminish the number of contaminants; however, some contaminants have proven to be refractory. Thus, there is a need to modify various advanced treatment processes or employ additional treatment processes. Polymer inclusion membranes (PIMs) are a liquid membrane technology that is highly efficient at removing contaminants from water. They have been widely studied for the removal of heavy metals and nutrients from aquatic systems; however, only a few studies have investigated the use of PIMs to remove pharmaceutically active compounds from aquatic systems. This research aims to raise awareness on the application of PIMs as a promising water treatment technology which has a great potential for the remediation of pharmaceuticals and endocrine disruptors in the aquatic system, due to its versatility, ease/low cost of preparation and high contaminant selectivity.
水中药物和内分泌干扰化合物的存在是一个令人关注的问题。这些化合物的出现、命运和潜在毒性引起了科学界的兴趣。由于它们的高溶解度和低挥发性，它们在水生系统中很常见，而废水处理厂（WWTP）是这些污染物的主要储存库。传统的 WWTP 已经证明无法完全去除这些污染物；因此，已经探索了不同的先进处理工艺来弥补传统系统的不足。本研究的结果表明，先进处理工艺在减少污染物数量方面取得了显著进展；然而，一些污染物被证明难以去除。因此，需要修改各种先进的处理工艺或采用额外的处理工艺。聚合物整体膜（PIM）是一种液膜技术，在从水中去除污染物方面非常有效。它们已被广泛研究用于从水生系统中去除重金属和营养物；然而，只有少数研究调查了使用 PIM 从水生系统中去除药物活性化合物。本研究旨在提高对 PIM 作为一种有前途的水处理技术的认识，由于其多功能性、易于制备和低成本以及高污染物选择性，它在修复水中的药物和内分泌干扰物方面具有很大的潜力。
