Photocatalysis, LC-MS/MS, pharmaceuticals, waste streams, advanced oxidative processes
In recent years, the presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment has become a serious cause for concern and the problem is continuing to grow with the on-going development of more potent and more metabolically resistant drugs. A significant body of research has been devoted to tackling this issue, including the employment of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) to remove pharmaceuticals from waste streams. Of these AOP processes, those which use the photocatalyst TiO2 are some of the most studied for pharmaceutical abatement.