Now, a team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University has come up with a novel approach to address the alarming concern of pharmaceutical contamination in our water systems. The process uses a simple, environmentally friendly combination of a TAML catalyst and hydrogen peroxide to degrade various drug products in wastewaters, rivers and lakes where they represent an emerging class of contaminants that require new sustainable solutions for remediation.
Harnessing the Power of Catalysts
The specific innovation in this case is that it built around a next-generation TAML catalyst, designed by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University’s Institute for Green Science.
TAML catalysts are small-molecule mimics of natural peroxidase enzymes and have been engineered to be one of the most efficient and green catalysts known. This new version, which is called NewTAML, seems to exceed previous iterations and enables the activation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in much lower concentrations than ever before.
The extraordinary thing about this catalyst is that it works even better as its concentration is decreased. This leads to a significant decrease in the level of TAML and hydrogen peroxide required for the entire process, lowering operating costs thereby making the solution more cost-effective and greener.
Targeting the Source of Pharmaceutical Pollution
Pharmaceuticals getting into water put through our water systems is becoming a global problem. Lower dosings of hundreds of chemical micropollutants, including an array of over-the-counter drugs and prescription medications for humans and animals, are not always being filtered out during the treatment process at municipal wastewater treatment plants.
This type of pollution can have serious and lasting impacts on the health and behavior of wildlife (insects, fish and birds). Traditional wastewater treatment processes have been found to be ineffective in removing microcontaminants entirely, and advanced methods are too expensive or otherwise not readily available for many communities.
Now the Carnegie Mellon team has built a cheap and simple method that uses TAML and peroxide to do just that — aggressively break down pollutants in water. Ultra-dilute TAML mixed with very dilute peroxide was able to destroy a suite of high-concern pharmaceuticals – antibiotics, a synthetic estrogen, and a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) – in drug-contaminated waters.
Conclusion
Carnegie Mellon University has discovered a novel approach to address the currently not-met needs for managing pharmaceutical pollution in water systems. Utilizing groundbreaking TAML catalysts alongside hydrogen peroxide the group have created a system with potential to treating a wide variety of contaminated waters – from municipal wastewater through to natural waterways – in an efficient, cost-effective and environmentally sustainable manner. As micropollutants continue to endanger the world, this advance in technology proves beneficial for both wildlife and human societies by fostering a healthier future.
