Removal of APIs and Pharmaceutical Residues

Background: PiE

Probably the biggest problem facing policymakers tackling pharmaceuticals in the environment (PiE) is that they are invisible. If it is difficult to persuade people that they should change age-old practices and make costly investments. It is even harder when they cannot see the evidence in the short-term.

Sources of PiE are wide-ranging and include:

* Human excreta collected at sewage treatment plants and arising in effluent;
* Unused drugs disposed to landfill waste streams later emerging in leachate;
* Pharmaceutical manufacturing plant wastewater discharge (often containing Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs));
* Animal excreta from intensive farming appearing in run-off;
* Meat production, abattoir and rendering plant discharge.

Pharmaceutical residues in water

Pharmaceutical residues are polluting both surface waters and groundwaters globally. The impacts on water quality in municipal supplies and on aquatic life and ecosystems can have very serious consequences as humans and other species are inadvertently dosed with medication.

Collaboration offers the best way to tackle this complex and multi-stranded issue and currently the Netherlands offers an impressive model, with close dialogue between central government, regional water authorities and hospitals.

It engages the whole pharmaceutical chain:  pharmaceutical development; drug prescription and use; waste disposal and wastewater treatment.

What’s it like to work with Arvia?

“Arvia have been interested, attentive and very knowledgeable in our project for treatment of API residues in waste. Their technology is innovative and has been proven to solve our waste issue.”

Pharmaceutical company, US

Our solution: How to remove APIs from water

In both cases, the Nyex™-a treatment system was deployed on wastewater containing a cocktail of antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, beta and nerve blockers as well as anti-depressants, amongst other regularly administered medications.

The Nyex™-a treatment process combines adsorption with electrochemical oxidation in a single, scalable unit. As the contaminated water flows into the reactor tank, pharmaceutical contaminants are concentrated onto the surface of our proprietary Nyex™ adsorbent media, which is non-porous with high electrical conductivity.

A low electrical current is simultaneously passed through the media bed to fully mineralise the adsorbed contaminants to H₂O, H₂ and CO₂, without the production of sludge. Unlike activated carbon, Nyex™ media is effectively regenerated in-situ and the process can continue without interruption or incineration to renew the media.

The treated water then flows from the reactor tank ready to be safely discharged.

Results from Project 1 – DOC2C’s consortium, Europe

Figure 1 – Results from the on-site trials show a comprehensive removal of various pharmaceutical contaminants of >90% and often to below the limit of detection (LOD). The waters tested were surface water from Ijssel Meer and brine from both an ion-exchange and an electrodialysis unit.

Results from Project 2 – Nersingen City Council, Germany

Results from the in-house trials at Arvia’s facilities on real samples of water from Nersingen demonstrate a comprehensive removal rate against various pharmaceutical contaminants. Analysis was provided by an external laboratory for the raw water pre and post-treatment

Acknowledgements – *The DOC2C’s consortium consists of PWN Technologies R&D (NL), South West Water (UK), De Watergroep (BE), Lille University (FR) and Delft University of Technology (NL).

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