PHARMACEUTICALS – NEW POLLUTANTS AND CAVITATION AS A BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT UPGRADE

Abstract

Nowadays, pharmaceuticals used in human and veterinary medicine, livestock and fish farming are considered as pollutants. Due to a steady increase in their production and usage, their impact on the environment is on the rise. However, the effects of pharmaceuticals remain poorly researched despite their potentially negative impact on the organisms in the environment, especially in the case of long-term exposure. As conventional (biological) wastewater treatment plants, from which most of the pharmaceutical residues enter the environment, are hardly sufficient, considerable efforts go into the development of new technologies for more effective wastewater treatment. Hydrodynamic cavitation is a potential alternative method of wastewater treatment. Cavitation, which is described as a physical phenomenon, where water vaporizes at constant temperature, is used as a tool for the removal of pharmaceuticals. By exploiting the extreme conditions occurring during this phenomenon this study achieved very good results in extensive removal of six selected pharmaceuticals (ibuprofen, naproxen, ketoprofen, carbamazepine, diclofenac and clofibrid acid).