Production and application of alternative adsorbents for the removal of pharmaceuticals from urban and industrial effluents

Pharmaceuticals are amongst the most relevant environmental contaminants due to their ability to directly affect the ecosystems at very low concentrations. They enter the environment mainly due to the inadequacy of the available treatments applied in Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTPs) resulting in the discharge of treated, but still contaminated, effluents. The available advanced treatments imply high application costs and, in some cases, the generation of toxic by-products. Thus, it urges to develop alternative methodologies which combine efficiency and cost-effectiveness for application as a tertiary treatment for urban or industrial WWTPs. RemPharm aims to produce alternative materials capable of removing pharmaceuticals from contaminated water using as starting materials sub-products of the pulp and paper industry. See more about the project goals here.