Treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater through activated sludge process-a critical review.

The occurrence of pharmaceutical compounds in water is a rising issue in the environment. These drugs in the waste may be toxic to aquatic organisms and humans as they disrupt the endocrine system, cause genotoxicity, etc. Several techniques were used for the treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater, such as physical, chemical, physiochemical, and biological processes like adsorption, chemical coagulation, and activated sludge processes, but these techniques possess several merits and demerits, such as higher installation and operation costs. This technique is used to remove color and turbidity; reduce biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and total suspended solids (TSS) to permissible limits for reuse of effluent; and prevent diseases caused by pharmaceutical wastewater. This review focuses on the treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater containing drugs like antibiotics, depressants, and hormones, with the activated sludge process having several advantages like good quality effluent and low installation costs.

Rapid determination and optimisation of berberine from Himalayan Berberis lycium by soxhlet apparatus using CCD-RSM and its quality control as a potential candidate for COVID-19.

SARS-CoV-2 (or COVID-19) has become a global risk and scientists are attempting to investigate antiviral vaccine. Berberis are important plants due to the presence of bioactive phytochemicals, especially berberine from the protoberberine group of benzylisoquinoline and recent studies have shown its potential in treating COVID-19. B. lycium Royle growing in subtropical regions of Asia had wide applications in Indian system of medicine. Rapid determination and novel optimisation method for berberine extraction has been developed by Soxhlet extraction utilising central composite design-response surface methodology (CCD-RSM). Berberine was detected by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and the highest yield (13.39%) was obtained by maintaining optimal extraction conditions i.e., extraction time (7.28 hrs), ethyl alcohol (52.21%) and solvent to sample ratio (21.78 v/w). Investigation of two geographic regions (Ramnagar and Srinagar) showed high berberine content in lower altitude. This novel optimisation technique has placed berberine as a potential candidate for developing pharmaceutical products for human health care.