Recent Advances in Wetland-Based Tertiary Treatment Technologies for PPCPs Removal from Wastewater

The incessant use of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) has led to their increased concentrations in environmental water matrices. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has further increased the consumption and release of these pharmaceuticals and antimicrobial compounds in the wastewater streams. Of these, some are highly recalcitrant and thus escape removal during conventional treatment. This is attributed to their lipophilicity; leading to bioaccumulation, transformation into another product and non-biodegradability. Though advanced treatment by advanced oxidation processes, ozonation, etc., offer better PPCP removal efficiencies, their use is limited by economic constraints. Constructed wetlands provide techno-economically feasible solution for sewage treatment; nonetheless, they too cause incomplete removal of PPCPs. Consequently, it is indispensable to adopt promising cost-effective tertiary treatment along with wetlands. In this regard, this chapter focusses on recent developments in PPCPs removal using constructed wetlands highlighting its performance separately and in combination with other tertiary treatment processes viz., adsorption, membrane processes, etc., and fate of PPCPs in sewage treatment plants. It is observed that the hybrid wetland and the integrated wetland-tertiary treatment-based technologies exhibit better PPCPs removal efficiencies than wetlands alone. Hence, constructed wetlands-based integrated treatment systems are the most sustainable and cost-effective solution of PPCPs removal from wastewater.