Table 3.

Treatment technologies for each drug.

Drugs	Treatment technologies	Operational conditions	Efficiency of removal*	Reference
Azithromycin	Photocatalytic degradation	30 mg of Ag@Bi4O5I2/SPION/Calg	98.4%	A. Kumar et al. (2021a, 2021b)
		Xe lamp 300W
		90 min of reaction
		5 mg og ZrO2/Ag@TiO2	90%	Naraginti et al. (2019)
		Xe lamp 250W
		8 hours of reaction
		1000 mg of GO@Fe3O4/ZnO/SnO2	90.06%	Sayadi et al. (2019)
		UV-C lamp 6W
		120 min
	Membrane bioreactor	Pilot plant (anaerobic MBR, 100 PE)	25%	Göbel et al. (2007)
		hydraulic retention time 13 hours
		solid retention time 16 ± 2 d, 33 ± 3 d or 60 – 80 d
	Adsorption	Saponin-modified nano diatomite	99.8%	Davoodi et al. (2019)
		1 g L-1; pH 9; 25 °C; agitation 450 rpm
		60 min
		FAU-type zeolites	79%	de Sousa et al. (2018)
		10 mg L-1 of adsorbent; pH 6,5
		30 min
	Nanofiltration	Composite polyamide membrane	99%	Li et al. (2020)
		pH 5; 25 °C; 8 bar
		120 min
	Ozonation	Municipal sewage treatment plant	92.6%	Nakada et al. (2007)
		1.7 × 105 m3 of sewage per day
		Concentration of ozone 3 mg L-1
		Retention time 27 min
Chloroquine Hydroxychloroquine	Photocatalysis-activated degradation	400 mg of PDINH/MIL-88A(Fe) composite	95.7%	Yi et al. (2021)
		irradiation of 300 ± 50 mW LED visible light
		30 min
	Electrochemical oxidation	Boron doped diamond (BDD) anodes	100%	Bensalah et al. (2020)
		UV lamp mercury 15 W
		Sonication (sono-assisted electrochemical)
		300 min
	Photodegradation	Simulated solar radiation (Xe lamp)	-	Dabić et al. (2019)
		Solutions of HCQ in spring, river and sea water
		50 hours
	Membrane bioreactor	Membrane with melanized E. coli	98.2%	Lindroos et al. (2019)
		Permeate flow 0.02 L min-1
		20 hours
	Electron-Fenton oxidation	Boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode	100%	Midassi et al. (2020)
		H2O2 = 60 mA cm-2; O2 = 80 mL min-1; pH = 3
		300 min
Ivermectin	Adsorption	Kaolinite biochar composite	83.5%	Olu-Owolabi et al. (2021)
		100 mg of adsorbent; 30 °C
		180 min
		Graphene oxide-polyaniline (GO/PANI)	-	Rezazadeh et al. (2018)
		pH = 7; 700 rpm; salt addition of 2.0 M
		45 min
	Photocatalytic degradation	2 g L-1 TiO2	92.1%	Havlíková et al. (2016)
		UV Camag lamp; pH = 5
		5 hours
	Ferrate (VI) treatment	3 mg L-1 of Fe in Jar test	25%	Patibandla et al. (2018)
		sample pH at 6
		fast mixing 2 min + slow mixing 20 min
Dexamethasone	Electrocoagulation	Aluminum electrodes; NaCl as electrolyte	38%	Arsand et al. (2013)
		Sampling of hospital wastewater
		45 min
	Photocatalysis	0.75–2.5 g L−1 Ag/TiO2 and 10–20 mg L−1 H2O2	82.3%	Pazoki et al. (2016)
		UV and visible-light irradiation
		DXM (5–30 mg L−1); pH (3-11); 30–80 °C
		240 min
	Adsorption	0.1 – 0.5 g/50 ml Clinoptilolite (CP) modified zeolite	78%	Mohseni et al. (2016)
		pH 4-7-9; 25 °C
		120 min
		Multi-wall carbon nanotube and activated carbon	-	Vadi et al. (2013)
		0.005 g of adsorbent; 25 ± 2 °C
		10 min
Remdesivir	Photocatalytic degradation	1 – 10 mg of TiO2	-	Woche et al. (2016)
		Mercury vapor lamp (Hg-UV)
		140 min
	Catalytic ozonation	1.5 g L-1 of Titanium-doped mesoporous γ-Al2O3 (γ-Ti-Al2O3)	-	Bing et al. (2017)
		30 mg L-1 of gaseous O3 (ozone); 20 °C
		60 min
Favipiravir	Ozonation followed by activated carbon and biological filters	Pilot scale ozonation	-	Knopp et al. (2016)
		0.87 ± 0.29 g O3
		Hydraulic retention time 17 ± 3 min
HIV Antivirals	Ozonation	Analyte-ozone-rations (1:0, 10:1, 5:1, 2:1, 1:1, 1:2, 1:5, 1:10)	-	Funke et al. (2021)
		Effluent from conventional WWTP was used with the addition of 5 mg L-1 of antiviral
	Electrochemical degradation	Ti/SnO2-Sb anode	97%	Zhou et al. (2019)
		10 min
	Adsorption	10-30 g L-1 non-modified expanded perlite (E-perlite)	58.5%	Babas et al. (2021)
		pH 3 – 11; 25 °C
		250 min
		5 mg L-1 Carbon nanotubes (CNTs)	90%	Wang et al. (2015)
		pH 2 – 12; 25 °C
		48 hours

^*Some data of efficiency removal was not provided specifically by the authors.