Salt-laden pharmaceutical industry reverse osmosis reject wastewater treatment using halotolerant biocatalyst integrated heterogeneous activated carbon fenton catalytic oxidation process

• Published in: Process safety and environmental protection Vol. 198; p. 107185
• Main Authors: Sanjay, Jagriti Jha, Ganesan, Sekaran, Kandasamy, Ramani
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2025
• Subjects: Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients; Biocatalysis; Biostimulant-mediated halotolerant biocatalytic oxidation; Halotolerant microbiome; Heterogeneous-activated carbon Fenton catalytic oxidation; Pharmaceutical Reverse Osmosis reject; Biocatalysis; Heterogeneous-activated carbon Fenton catalytic oxidation; Pharmaceutical Reverse Osmosis reject; Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients; Halotolerant microbiome; Biostimulant-mediated halotolerant biocatalytic oxidation
• ISSN: 0957-5820
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psep.2025.107185

Pharmaceutical reverse osmosis reject (PROR), a retentate generated during the reverse osmosis process of pharmaceutical effluent treatment, comprises high concentration of toxic active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) coupled with high salinity and total dissolved solids (TDS). These properties make the treatment of RO reject challenging for conventional technologies. The current study designs a novel strategy to accelerate PROR effluent treatment using a strategically designed biostimulant-mediated halotolerant biocatalytic oxidation (BMHBO) system coupled with Heterogeneous activated carbon Fenton catalytic oxidation (HAFCO) system. The identified halotolerant microbial system comprised Bacillus cereus OR186720, Bhargavaea indica OR186702, Bacillus paramycoides OR186695, and Lysinibacillus macroides OR186663, as determined by 16S rRNA analyses. The efficiency of the integrated system, evidenced by COD, TDS, and salinity reductions of 98.11 %, 91.66 %, and 54.51 %, respectively, was further validated through FT-IR, 1H NMR, GC-MS, EDX, and XRF analyses. The present study demonstrated that the integrated treatment systems of BMHBO and HAFCO achieved accelerated treatment of PROR wastewater by overcoming the harmful interference posed by elevated TDS content without the generation of secondary pollution. [Display omitted] •Pharmaceutical RO reject contains refractory organics, high COD, TDS, and salinity.•Dual-staged bio-physicochemical remediate approach is used for RO Reject treatment.•Stage I Biocatalytic Treatment: Conversion of aromatic APIs to aliphatic structure.•Stage II HAFCO Oxidation: Ensure mineralization of the intermediates.•A novel BMHBO-HAFCO integrated system removed 98.11 % COD and 91.66 % TDS.