EMERGING CONTAMINANTS IN BRAZIL: DRUG WASTE AND REMOVAL PROCESSES VIA SEWAGE TREATMENT
drugs; Final disposition; water contamination; Activated sludge; Estrogenic activity; Removal
biological.
Emerging contaminants, compounds whose removal is not completely performed by
conventional sewage treatments, reach the environmental compartments after their disposal.
In this sense, one of its most studied classes are drugs, whose presence has been found
in springs, seas, fish, shrimp and in edible parts of lettuce and carrots. even though
have specific regulations, the collection of post-consumption medicines is punctual and disjointed
in Brazil, distancing the country from the universalization of reverse drug logistics. Therefore, in a
In the first chapter, this work identified and characterized homogeneous groups of Brazilian states, in the
scope of the socio-environmental problem of drug residues, based on the similarity of
indicators related to the entry and permanence of these pollutants in the environment. Additionally,
analyzed sociodemographic and environmental characteristics descriptive of the response profile in terms of
proposition and creation of legal instruments aimed at the reverse logistics of drugs. The analysis of
Cluster k-means grouped the states of the Southeast Region in the most developed group, those of the Regions
North, Northeast and Midwest in the less developed group and those in the South region in the group in
development. In addition, the confidence interval analysis showed that the number of laws
related to the implementation of reverse logistics of drugs varies according to the final disposition of
solid waste. In a second chapter, based on the existing literature, the
aeration tank unit of the activated sludge system aiming at the biological removal of hormones
estrogens.