The ins and outs of pharmaceutical wastewater treatment by microbial electrochemical technologies

Pharmaceutical residues in wastewater are a rising environmental concern due to the fact that they could often penetrate conventional water treatment processes, and enter natural water. Among novel water treatment techniques, microbial electrochemical technologies (METs) emerge as an environment-friendly and efficient means for the treatment of pharmaceutical contaminants in wastewaters. In recent years, extensive research has been conducted towards the understanding and optimization of various METs for efficient treatment. However, a timely review to update the progress of METs studies with the specific focus of pharmaceutical removal is still lacking. Thus, this work provides a review of the recent advances in the removal of pharmaceutical contaminants by using METs. Specifically, the performance of the different systems along with the reactor configurations, reaction mechanisms, and different target pharmaceuticals were discussed. To end, the current challenges and future perspectives of METs for pharmaceutical residues removal were also demonstrated. © 2021