Recent trends and future challenges of pesticide removal techniques - A comprehensive review

Extreme utilization of pesticides for agricultural purposes increases the level of pesticide content in water. Seasonal use of pesticides can cause increased concentrations at potable water abstraction sites as a shock load, which can be difficult for conventional treatment processes to deal with. Choosing the right water treatment method to remove pesticides hangs on the nature of pesticides and the effectiveness of the technique. The focus of this review is to discuss the current developments and progress in the use of various techniques for possible removal of pesticides from wastewater. Some of these processes include advanced oxidation, adsorption, activated sludge treatment, bioreactors and membrane technologies. The solo and mixed treatment techniques have been reviewed in detail and analyzed rigorously. The utilization of hybrid disposal technologies exhibit potential for the development of innovative pesticide removal techniques. Form the process effectiveness point of view, it is very important to thoroughly analyze the composition of the influent and identify the best removal technique. Furthermore, study emphasizes on designing of water treatment plant, the decentralization of water treatment and economical approaches for removal of various types of pesticides from wastewater are discussed.