Analysis, Removal, Effects and Risk of Pharmaceuticals in the Water Cycle

Analysis, Removal, Effects and Risk of Pharmaceuticals in the Water Cycle provides an overview of the current analytical methods for trace determination of pharmaceuticals in environmental samples. The book also reviews the fate and occurrence of pharmaceuticals in the water cycle for their elimination in wastewater and drinking water treatment, focusing on the newest developments in treatment technologies, such as membrane bioreactors and advanced oxidation processes. Pharmaceutically active substances are a class of new, so-called emerging contaminants that have raised great concern in recent years. Human and veterinary drugs are continuously being released into the environment mainly as a result of the manufacturing processes, the disposal of unused or expired products, and via excreta. The analytical methodology for the determination of trace pharmaceuticals in complex environmental matrices is still evolving, and the number of methods described in the literature has grown considerably. This volume leads the way, keeping chemistry students, toxicologists, engineers, wastewater managers and related professionals current with developments in this quickly evolving area.