Advanced Effluent Treatment and Its Limitations

Nowadays, advanced effluent treatment is often seen as the solution to APIs in the environment. However, if the water treatments are not effective, and most are not, many of the APIs (and the pharmaceutical excipients) pass through wastewater treatment, collect in effluent, and reach the aquatic environment. In most countries there are no effective treatment technologies available and this will continue to be the case in the next decades. Despite the increasingly visible limitations and often unsatisfactory performance of water treatments, the emphasis on reducing the environmental input of chemicals by effluent treatment is still highly favored by engineers. 

In summary, the (advanced) treatment processes are not compatible with sustainable development as they are end-of-the-pipe technologies and not affordable in all countries. The presence of synthetic chemicals such as APIs and pharmaceutical excipients in water demonstrates that conventional effluent treatment is not effective. 

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