PlumX Metrics
Embed PlumX Metrics

Occurrence and Ecological Risk Assessment of Pharmaceutical Residues in Effluents from Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Facilities in Kumasi, Ghana

Chemistry Africa, ISSN: 2522-5766, Vol: 6, Issue: 6, Page: 3131-3143
2023
  • 1
    Citations
  • 0
    Usage
  • 22
    Captures
  • 0
    Mentions
  • 0
    Social Media
Metric Options:   Counts1 Year3 Year

Metrics Details

  • Citations
    1
    • Citation Indexes
      1
  • Captures
    22

Article Description

Wastewater from the pharmaceutical industry is a significant source of contamination in the aquatic environment. Due to the absence of appropriate legislation, or challenges in the enforcement of existing legislation in many developing countries, many pharmaceutical companies employ improper disposal strategies for liquid and solid waste. As such, wastewater is usually released into the environment with little or no pre-treatment. The impact on the environment could be deleterious. This work, thus, evaluated the occurrence of pharmaceutical residues in soil and effluents from five pharmaceutical industries in Kumasi, Ghana and assessed the ecotoxicological risk posed by the presence of these pharmaceuticals to some organisms in the aquatic environment. Target pharmaceutical compounds (paracetamol, diclofenac, caffeine, amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, and metronidazole) were quantified using an HPLC–PDA method. The concentrations of the pharmaceuticals were high, ranging from 1.17 to 350.55 mg/L in the water samples and 0.04–28.58 mg/kg in sediment samples. Diclofenac (350.55 mg/L and 28.58 mg/kg) and caffeine (27.69 mg/L and 36.36 mg/kg) showed the highest concentrations among the six-targeted compounds in water and soil samples, respectively. Paracetamol was the most ubiquitous analyte in both wastewater and sediment samples; its highest concentrations were 16.65 mg/L and 15.00 mg/kg respectively. Risk quotients obtained from the risk assessment were mostly > 1. Diclofenac posed the most significant risk to fish, daphnia, and algae (658.93, 15,934.10 and 24,175.86, respectively), while ciprofloxacin posed a moderate risk to fish and daphnia (0.27 and 0.57 respectively) in wastewater samples. For soil samples, diclofenac posed the greatest risks to algae (1968.28), whereas paracetamol posed the greatest risk to daphnia (1630.430). This is the first comprehensive study on the occurrence and ecological risk assessment of pharmaceuticals in industrial effluents of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in Ghana. Routine monitoring of the effluents of pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities is necessary to reduce the influx of pharmaceutical compounds in various environmental matrices. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].

Bibliographic Details

Bismark Anabila Nyaaba; Joseph Nana Gyesi; Godfred Darko; Lawrence Sheringham Borquaye

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Chemical Engineering; Chemistry; Environmental Science

Provide Feedback

Have ideas for a new metric? Would you like to see something else here?Let us know