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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Anti-inflammatory drugs analysis in a wastewater sewage treatment plant and surface water in semiarid climate
ClearIssues of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs in Aquatic Environments: A Review Study
This paper is not primarily about microplastics. It reviews the occurrence and environmental fate of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs like ibuprofen and diclofenac) in aquatic environments, focusing on their incomplete removal by wastewater treatment plants and effects on aquatic organisms. While pharmaceutical pollutants and microplastics are both emerging contaminants in water, this study addresses drug contamination rather than microplastic pollution.
Urban River Microplastics as Vectors for Pharmaceutical Contaminants in a Savannah Region (Caatinga Biome)
This Brazilian study examined a river in the semi-arid Caatinga biome and found that microplastics in the water were co-contaminated with pharmaceutical compounds, driven by discharge of untreated domestic sewage. The work highlights how microplastics can act as carriers of pharmaceutical pollutants, compounding threats to water security in an already vulnerable and understudied region. The authors call for integrated waste management policies and environmental education to address combined chemical threats.
Pharmaceutically active micropollutants: origin, hazards and removal
This review summarizes existing research on pharmaceutical pollutants -- such as antibiotics, painkillers, and hormones -- found in water systems around the world. While focused on drug contamination, the paper notes that microplastics can act as carriers for these pharmaceutical chemicals, potentially concentrating them and increasing human exposure through drinking water. Conventional water treatment methods are often unable to fully remove these micropollutants.
Removal of Emerging Contaminants Using Low-Cost and Advanced Treatment Technologies: Evidence from Six Indian Cities
Researchers monitored pharmaceuticals, PFAS, and microplastics across six major Indian urban-river systems and assessed seasonal dynamics and treatment efficiency at wastewater plants, finding that conventional treatment largely fails to remove these emerging contaminants.
Occurrence and ecological risks of pharmaceuticals in a Mediterranean river in Eastern Spain
Researchers monitored a Spanish Mediterranean river and detected up to 69 pharmaceutical compounds in the water, with painkillers and antibiotics posing the highest ecological risk — affecting an estimated 65–82% of aquatic species in areas near wastewater treatment plant outflows. Five antibiotics exceeded thresholds linked to antibiotic resistance, raising concerns that standard wastewater treatment is insufficient to protect river ecosystems.
Medical Household Waste as a Potential Environmental Hazard: An Ecological and Epidemiological Approach
Researchers investigated household pharmaceutical waste disposal practices and analyzed drug residues in water bodies near Mexico's largest urban population, identifying frequently detected medications and assessing associated environmental and health risks.
High Spatiotemporal Model-Based Tracking and Environmental Risk-Exposure of Wastewater-Derived Pharmaceuticals across River Networks in Saxony, Germany
This is an environmental engineering study modeling how pharmaceuticals from wastewater treatment plants travel through river networks in Saxony, Germany; it is not a microplastics research paper.
The occurence of pharmaceuticals and other micropollutants in wastewater treatment plant in the aspect of interaction with microplastics
Researchers analysed the occurrence of antibiotics, virucidal, and fungicidal pharmaceuticals in raw and treated sewage at a wastewater treatment plant in southern Poland, examining their removal efficiency and potential interactions with microplastics present in the effluent. The study found that pharmaceutical micropollutants persisted through treatment to varying degrees, raising concerns about combined contamination pathways when microplastics act as co-vectors for these compounds.
Sustainable treatment systems for removal of pharmaceutical residues and other priority persistent substances
This review evaluates sustainable wastewater treatment technologies for removing pharmaceutical residues and other micropollutants before treated water is discharged to the environment. Advanced treatment methods are also applicable to improving microplastic removal from wastewater.
Urban River Microplastics as Vectors for Pharmaceutical Contaminants in a Savannah Region (Caatinga Biome)
Researchers investigated the association between microplastics and pharmaceutical contaminants in a river within the Caatinga biome of Brazil's semiarid region, focusing on an underrepresented area with limited prior environmental monitoring. They found that microplastics serve as vectors for pharmaceutical compounds, highlighting co-contamination risks in ecologically sensitive but understudied watersheds.
Selected widely prescribed pharmaceuticals: toxicity of the drugs and the products of their photochemical degradation to aquatic organisms
Researchers reviewed the environmental fate of widely prescribed pharmaceuticals in surface waters, examining both the parent drugs and their photochemical degradation products. The study found that some breakdown products may be more toxic to aquatic organisms than the original drugs, highlighting how pharmaceutical pollution interacts with other contaminants including microplastics in water systems.
Polyamide microplastics in wastewater as vectors of cationic pharmaceutical drugs
Researchers investigated whether polyamide microplastics in wastewater can adsorb pharmaceutical drugs and transport them into the environment. They found significant adsorption of hydrophobic pharmaceuticals like propranolol, amitriptyline, and fluoxetine, with limited desorption in river water but increased release in simulated gastric fluids. The findings suggest that microplastics discharged from wastewater treatment could carry adsorbed medications over long distances and release them if ingested by wildlife or humans.
Specific types of wastewater pollution in Ostrava and possibilities of decontamination through wastewater treatment plants
Researchers examined micropollutant contamination in wastewater in Ostrava, Czech Republic, finding that conventional wastewater treatment plants inadequately remove pharmaceutically active compounds and drug metabolites, posing risks to receiving waterways and highlighting the need for advanced treatment technologies.
(Bio)monitoring of pharmaceuticals in the Mediterranean aquatic environment and interactive effect with microplastics. Insights from field and laboratory studies
This biomonitoring study surveyed the presence of pharmaceutical compounds in Mediterranean aquatic environments, measuring concentrations in water, sediment, and biota across multiple sampling sites. Several drugs were detected at levels of potential concern for aquatic organisms.
Micro(nano)plastics as a vector of pharmaceuticals in aquatic ecosystem: Historical review and future trends
This systematic review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics in water can absorb and carry pharmaceutical drugs, creating a combined pollution threat. When medications attach to tiny plastic particles in rivers and oceans, they may become more harmful to aquatic life and potentially to humans who consume contaminated seafood or water. The research traces how this emerging double-threat has grown since 2018 and identifies key knowledge gaps.
Managing organic micropollutants in rivers : From monitoring to mitigation
This thesis reviewed how organic micropollutants including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and industrial chemicals end up in rivers and explored monitoring and treatment strategies for their removal. Understanding micropollutant fate in waterways is related to the broader challenge of microplastics, which can also adsorb and transport these same chemical contaminants.
How to decrease pharmaceuticals in the environment? A review
This review examines strategies for reducing pharmaceutical pollution in the environment, which is relevant to microplastic research because pharmaceuticals often co-occur with plastic contaminants in waterways. The authors ranked approaches from upstream solutions like greener drug design and better prescription practices to downstream technologies like advanced water treatment. The study concludes that preventing pharmaceutical pollution at its source is more effective and sustainable than relying solely on end-of-pipe treatment technologies.
Sorption of three common nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to microplastics
This study investigated the adsorption of three common nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) onto microplastics, finding that polymer type, drug properties, and environmental conditions all influenced sorption capacity. The results suggest microplastics can act as vectors for pharmaceutical contaminants in aquatic environments.
Pharmaceuticals in Water: Risks to Aquatic Life and Remediation Strategies
This review examines how pharmaceutical drugs in waterways threaten aquatic life and potentially human health. The biggest concern is the rise of antibiotic resistance from drugs entering water through household and agricultural waste. While not specifically about microplastics, the topic is connected because microplastics can adsorb and transport pharmaceutical residues through water systems.
Ibuprofen Pollution in the Environment: A Critical Review of Sources, Physicochemical Properties, Ecotoxicological Implications, Human Health Risks, and Bioremediation Technologies
This review examines ibuprofen as an emerging environmental micropollutant, tracing its journey from pharmaceutical manufacturing and wastewater treatment into aquatic ecosystems. Researchers found that ibuprofen can harm aquatic organisms and persist in the environment depending on various chemical and biological factors. The study explores bioremediation technologies as promising approaches to remove this widespread pharmaceutical contaminant from water sources.
Ekotoksičnost nesteroidnih protuupalnih lijekova na vodene organizme
This Croatian review examines the ecotoxicological effects of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on aquatic organisms. NSAIDs are widely detected in wastewater and surface waters, where they can harm fish, invertebrates, and algae even at low concentrations. Since microplastics can absorb and concentrate NSAIDs, their joint presence in water may amplify toxic effects on aquatic life.
Global distribution of wastewater treatment plants and their released effluents into rivers and streams
This paper maps the global distribution of wastewater treatment plants and quantifies the pollutants—including microplastics—they release into rivers. Despite removing much of the contamination, these facilities remain significant sources of microplastic discharge into waterways worldwide.
Which\nMicropollutants in Water Environments Deserve\nMore Attention Globally?
This review analyzed which organic micropollutants in water environments deserve the most global attention based on their toxicity, occurrence frequency, and persistence. Microplastics are among the contaminants considered, alongside pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and industrial chemicals that routinely escape conventional water treatment and accumulate in aquatic ecosystems.
Which\nMicropollutants in Water Environments Deserve\nMore Attention Globally?
This review analyzed which organic micropollutants in water environments deserve the most global attention based on their toxicity, occurrence frequency, and persistence. Microplastics are among the contaminants considered, alongside pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and industrial chemicals that routinely escape conventional water treatment and accumulate in aquatic ecosystems.