Removal of neonicotinoid insecticides from water in various treatment processes: A review

The extensive application of neonicotinoid insecticides (NNIs) has resulted in its worldwide detection in waters, leading to risks to human health and ecology safety. Presently, various remediation techniques for NNIs have been developed. However, the critical reviews concerning the remediation approaches for the elimination of NNIs from water are limited. Considering tremendous efforts have been made in the research topic of NNIs removal recently, this study systematacially reviewed the current advances on NNIs remediation approaches, including adsorption, Fenton, ozonation, photodegradation, sulfate radicals based-advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), electrochemical AOPs, percarbonate-based AOPs, periodate-based AOPs, microbial remediation, and phytoremediation. Moreover, NNIs removal by these methods have been critically discussed, compared, and analyzed. Furthermore, mechanisms of different treatment processes have been summarized in detail. Finally, the challenges and perspectives have been proposed. This study highlights the current progresses on NNIs removal technologies and proposes the future research needs in this area, which will provide support to further researches to halt the NNIs contamination.