ABSTRACT
With an increase in the use of pharmaceuticals, which are responsible for saving millions of lives in the last decade, a trend of them emerging as pollutants in water bodies has been observed. The documentation of their presence in groundwater, surface water, seawater, and wastewater treatment plants has indicated their adverse health effects to the aquatic flora and fauna as well as humans. Conventional water treatment technology is not sufficient to tackle this problem and, as a result of this, an alternative method is required to overcome it. A newer, nanotechnology-based approach is being promoted to solve this problem in an effective way. Nanomaterials have shown promising results for being employed in adsorption methods, such as the use of nanocatalysts. Membranes used in nanofiltration show potential due to their extraordinary physical and chemical properties. Nanomaterials like graphene and carbon nanotubes demonstrate high adsorption capacities. Thus, nanotechnology proves to be an excellent candidate for removing pharmaceutical contaminants from wastewater. In this chapter, the origin of pharmaceutical waste, its conventional treatment methods, and the application of nanomaterials to tackle this challenging problem have been discussed.
