Laboratory waste treatment12/14/2023 ![]() A good understanding of the pharmaceuticals’ impact on the environment and ecosystems is necessary. The mixtures of pharmaceuticals have higher toxicity and more serious environmental impact than they are recognized as single compounds. Įven though most pharmaceuticals are in low concentrations in the ecosystems and might not induce any harmful impact as single compounds, pharmaceuticals may be mixed and interacted in the ecosystem. Pharmaceuticals, which are often water soluble, are generally biologically active compounds and not easily biodegraded. Nowadays, pharmaceuticals can be detected in surface waters, ground waters, and drinking water due to their inefficient removal in WWTP. ![]() ![]() It is found that substances, such as antitumor agents, antibiotics, and organ halogen compounds, are barely degraded by the WWTPs and left in the effluents. Unfortunately, HWW may not be properly treated in the WWTP. HWW containing all kinds of hazard materials is often transported to the traditional urban WWTPs. It reveals that these substances would discharge to the environment along with wastewater treatment effluent when HWW was treated with municipal wastewater treatment processes. Therefore the traditional wastewater treatment processes are not suitable for the removal of pharmaceuticals, pathogens, and ARGs. In fact, municipal WWTPs are designed to remove the general contaminants including fats, oils, organic matters, nitrogen, and phosphorus from human wastes. However, there are still some places cotreating the HWW along with municipal wastewater. Generally, the HWW is required to be treated in situ to reduce the discharge of pharmaceuticals, pathogens, and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Like partially metabolized pharmaceuticals, the pathogens are also flushed into the sewerage pipeline without pretreatment. In general, the biological risk of HWWs is a large variety of pathogen microorganisms (bacteria, protozoa, helminths, and viruses), which are principally from the feces of infected humans. The hazard chemicals are commonly flushed into the sewer and transported to the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) without any pretreatment. These pharmaceuticals can be antibiotics, analgesics and antiinflammatories, psychiatric drugs, b-blockers, anesthetics, disinfectants, chemicals from laboratory activities, and developer and fixer solutions from photographic film processing and X-ray contrast media. The main chemical substances in HWWs are the pharmaceuticals, which are partially metabolized and excreted in the urine. It normally poses a much higher physical risk. The concentration of 131I in the HWW is in the range of 15.0–61.8 Bq/L. The common isotope utilized is the 131I (iodine-131) radio isotope compared to other radionuclides (phosphorus-32, strontium-89, yttrium-90, etc.). The majority of physical hazards presenting in HWW are the radioactive substances which are utilized in nuclear medicine therapies and diagnostics. HWW may contain various hazardous materials which can be classified into physical remaining, chemical substances, and biological risks. It was reported that the generation rate of HWW was around 400–1000 L per bed per day worldwide,. ![]() The quantity and characteristics of the HWW are varied mainly according to the size (big: >500 beds middle: 100–499 beds small: <100 beds) and the type (general or special) of the hospital. The hospital wastewater (HWW) is the effluents which are generated from all the hospital activities, such as surgery, emergency and first aids, laboratories, diagnosis, and radiology. ![]()
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