Photocatalytic Degradation of Paracetamol using TiO₂ Supported on Waste-Recovered Aluminosilcate

Abstract

The pharmaceutical industry is responsible for the development, production and marketing of various types of medications to help treat a wide variety of diseases of both humans and animals. Despite being under many regulations, there are growing concerns regarding the impact of pharmaceuticals on the environment. Recently, three pharmaceuticals along with eight synthetic hormones, pesticides and other pharmaceutical by-products have been listed as contaminants in Contaminant Candidate List (CCL-3) by United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) (Richardson and Ternes, 2018). The advancement in new techniques and analytical methods have been able to detect these contaminants to a concentration as low as few ng/L in environmental samples (Richardson and Ternes, 2018). These concerns made way to widespread and extensive research on the environmental effects of pharmaceuticals over the last couple of decades. Pharmaceuticals find their way into the environment, especially through water bodies that are fed by various sources like households, pharmacies, hospitals and manufacturers (Ziylan and Ince, 2011). Other indirect sources of these pharmaceuticals include animal farming which releases veterinary pharmaceuticals, leaching and runoff from agricultural fields (Khetan and Collins, 2007). Many active pharmaceutical ingredients in the human body which have been converted either incompletely or completely to metabolites soluble in water or, sometimes without even being metabolised are given out biologically in the form of urine or fecal matter also find their way into the WWTPs through the sewage system.