Emerging pollutants in pharmaceutical and personal care product industrial effluents: Characterization and their environmental impacts

This study aimed to assess emerging pollutants and heavy metals (HMs) in pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), industrial effluents, and their environmental impacts using several indices. The mean HM concentrations for pharmaceutical and personal care product (PCP) effluents were in the order of Fe > Ni > Cr > Mn > Pb > Zn > Cu > Cd and Cu > Mn > Cr > Fe > Zn ≥ Pb > Ni > Cd, respectively, where Cr, Ni, Pb, and Cd concentrations for pharmaceutical effluent and Cr, Mn, and Cd for PCP effluent exceeded their accepted limits set by the Department of Environment, Bangladesh 2019. The values of chemical oxygen demand (COD) for PCP effluent were found to be much higher in all seasons, while these values for pharmaceutical effluent slightly exceeded the permissible limits of the Bangladesh Environmental Conservation Rules 2023 in two seasons. The concentrations of nitrate (NO₃^-) and phosphate (PO₄^3-) in both types of effluents were found to be higher in all three seasons. The Pearson correlation matrix and PCA suggested that pH, electrical conductivity, BOD₅, COD, NO₃^-, PO₄^3-, and SO₄^2- were the most correlating and contributing factors. Thirty-seven emerging pollutants, including antibiotics and endocrine-disrupting compounds, were identified in the treated effluent of PPCPs, which have high environmental risk.