Tree Bark Can Remove Pharmaceutical Pollution from Wastewater

The discovery outlined in this news story focuses on tackling residues of antibiotics, antidepressants, painkillers, and blood pressure drugs that conventional wastewater treatment plants often fail to eliminate. These chemical residues are increasingly recognized as environmental contaminants, particularly because antibiotics in wastewater can accelerate the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and genes, posing risks to both human health and aquatic ecosystems.

Pharmaceuticals enter wastewater from hospitals, households, and industrial sources such as slaughterhouses. Even advanced treatment processes may leave behind enough micropollutants to cause environmental harm. In response to stricter regulatory pressure, researchers are seeking more effective and sustainable removal technologies. While activated carbon is commonly used to adsorb micropollutants, it is expensive. Pine bark offers a cheaper alternative.

In laboratory tests lasting 33 days, magnetite-modified pine bark showed strong performance in removing 12 pharmaceutical compounds from water. A subsequent four-month pilot study using real wastewater found that several antibiotics were reduced below detection limits, while other drugs were removed at rates exceeding 90 percent. The researchers concluded that magnetite-treated pine bark has significant potential for large-scale application.

To read how drug industry pollution is increasingly affecting food chains, water supplies, and the environment, see this article on our website.