ABSTRACT
A delicate balance exists between humanity and the environment. Since the industrial revolution, with the increasing world population, different types of industry have adversely affected the environment. Pharmaceutical industry wastes, especially antibiotic residues, negatively affect the environment and humanity. Numerous studies have been conducted on many different treatment methods to completely remove antibiotics from wastewater such as aerobic biological treatment, different phenton processes, membrane filtration, ozonation, and electrochemical methods. These treatment methods have some advantages and disadvantages in themselves.
Advanced treatment approaches have come to the fore in recent years. This book chapter firstly reviews new biotechnological approaches to the treatment and recycling of pharmaceutical wastewater and then discusses the impact of a new generation TiO2 photocatalyst, which has proven successful in removing antibiotics, on the biodegradation of wastewater under visible light. In the light of these discussions, wastewater with similar characteristics to pharmaceutical wastewater was evaluated on the basis of a case study.
