Review Current research trends on emerging contaminants pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs): A comprehensive review Manish Kumar a, ⁎ , Srinidhi Sridharan b,c , Ankush D. Sawarkar d , Adnan Shakeel c , Prathmesh Anerao c , Giorgio Mannina a , Prabhakar Sharma e , Ashok Pandey f,g,h, ⁎⁎ a Engineering Department, Palermo University, Viale delle Scienze, Ed.8, 90128 Palermo, Italy b Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, Uttar Pradesh, India c CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur 440020, Maharashtra, India d Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Nagpur, Maharashtra 440 010, India e School of Ecology and Environment Studies, Nalanda University, Rajgir 803116, India f Centre for Innovation and Translational Research, CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow 226 001, India g Sustainability Cluster, School of Engineering, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun 248 007, India h Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability, Lucknow 226 029, India HIGHLIGHTS GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT • Pharmaceutical and personnel care prod- ucts (PPCPs) are a potential hazard. • PPCPs are resistant to biodegradation due to their stable chemical structures. • Integrated/hybrid technologies are effec- tive in removal of PPCPs from wastewater. • Combining ozonation with activated car- bon (AC), significantly remove PPCPs. • Spain, Canada, and the USA have guide- lines for PPCPs disposal and management. ABSTRACT ARTICLE INFO Editor: Daniel CW Tsang Keywords: Pharmaceutical and personnel care products (PPCPs) Pharmaceutical and personnel care products (PPCPs) from wastewater are a potential hazard to the human health and wildlife, and their occurrence in wastewater has caught the concern of researchers recently. To deal with PPCPs, var- ious treatment technologies have been evolved such as physical, biological, and chemical methods. Nevertheless, mod- ern and efficient techniques such as advance oxidation processes (AOPs) demand expensive chemicals and energy, which ultimately leads to a high treatment cost. Therefore, integration of chemical techniques with biological Science of the Total Environment 859 (2023) 160031 Abbreviations: AC, activated carbon; AOP, advance oxidation process; ASP, activated sludge process; BOD, biological oxygen demand; BPA, bisphenol A; COD, chemical oxygen demand; CWs, constructed wetlands; DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid; E1, estrone; E2, β-estradiol; E3, estriol; ECD, electrochemical degradation; ECs, emerging contaminants; EDCs, endocrine disruption chemicals; EE2, 17α-ethynylestradiol; EU, European Union; EV, β-estradiol 17-valerate; Fe, Iron; Fe(OH) 3 , iron (III) hydroxide; FeO 4 2- , ferrate(VI); FTIR, Fourier transform infrared; FWS, free water surface; GAC, granular activated carbon; GC, gas chromatography; GC–MS, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; HSSF-CWs, horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands; K ow , octanol-water par- tition coefficient; LC, liquid chromatography; LC-MS, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry; MBR, membrane bioreactor; μg, microgram; MOF, metal-organic frameworks; MS, mass spectrom- etry; NF, nanofiltration; ng, nanogram; NSAIDs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; PBT, persistence bioaccumulation toxicity; PFCs, perfluorochemicals; pH, potential of hydrogen; PPCPs, pharmaceutical and personal care products; PZC, point of zero charge; RO, reverse osmosis; SEM, scanning electron microscopy; SF-CWs, surface-flow constructed wetlands; TiO 2 , titanium dioxide; UF/PAC, ultrafiltration with powdered activated carbon; UK, United Kingdom; USA, United States of America; USD, United States dollar; US-ECD, ultrasound electrochemical degradation; USFDA, United States Food and Drug Administration; UV, ultraviolet; VSSF-CWs, vertical subsurface flow constructed wetlands; WWTPs, wastewater treatment plants; WWTW, wastewater treatment works; XRD, X-ray diffraction. ⁎ Corresponding author. ⁎⁎ Correspondence to: A. Pandey, Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability, Lucknow 226 029, India. E-mail addresses: manishkumar.bt@gmail.com (M. Kumar), ashokpandey1956@gmail.com (A. Pandey). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160031 Received 6 September 2022; Received in revised form 3 November 2022; Accepted 3 November 2022 Available online 10 November 2022 0048-9697/© 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv