Emerging Organic Compound (EOC) Removal from Water and Wastewater Using Innovative Technologies and Materials

There is a growing concern about the presence of EOCs in the environment, which could be preferably called “the contaminants of emerging concern,” including pharmaceuticals, specifically antibiotics, antiseptics, hormones, and pesticides that are available commonly in untreated wastewater. These substances that are produced due to various industrial and human activities constitute a significant environmental risk worldwide. Currently, several treatment methods have been investigated for the removal of EOCs that entail different processes (e.g., adsorption, ozonation, and biological) and advanced processes (e.g., advanced oxidation processes and membrane-based technologies). However, these processes often suffer from operational problems and have inadequate treatment capacity when used as stand-alone solutions for all types of EOCs. Due to the fact that EOCs have different physicochemical properties and distinctive toxic concentrations in water, the treatment processes that are combined with innovative technologies and/or materials are required to sustainably remove EOCs at desirable levels. The combined processes are defined as holistic treatment technologies that could synergistically amass several advantages of single processes such as modularity, low cost, and high removal efficiency. Thus, the membrane processes appear as one of the best available technologies to effectively and safely eliminate EOCs due to their improved applicability potential in combined treatments via maximizing the technical performance of overall treatment. This chapter reviews the technological aspects, performances, and economic analysis of EOC removal methods. The innovative or promising combined technologies and membrane processes has been suggested based on the risk groups that rely upon the basic specific properties of EOCs.