In the last few decades, environmental contaminants (ECs) have been introduced into the environment at an alarming rate. There is a risk to human health and aquatic ecosystems from trace levels of emerging contaminants, including hospital wastewater (HPWW), cosmetics, personal care products, endocrine system disruptors, and their transformation products. Despite the fact that these pollutants have been introduced or detected relatively recently, information about their characteristics, actions, and impacts is limited, as are the technologies to eliminate them efficiently. A wastewater recycling system is capable of providing irrigation water for crops and municipal sewage treatment, so removing ECs before wastewater reuse is essential. Water treatment processes containing advanced ions of biotic origin and ECs of biotic origin are highly recommended for contaminants. This study introduces the fundamentals of the treatment of tertiary wastewater, including membranes, filtration, UV (ultraviolet) irradiation, ozonation, chlorination, advanced oxidation processes, activated carbon (AC), and algae. Next, a detailed description of recent developments and innovations in each component of the emerging contaminant removal process is provided.

Chemical Engineering Department COMSATS University Islamabad Lahore Campus Lahore Punjab 54000 Pakistan

Computer Techniques Engineering Department Al Mustaqbal University College Hillah 51001 Iraq

Department of Chemical Engineering School of Mining Metallurgy and Chemical Engineering University of Johannesburg P O Box 17011 Doornfontein 2028 South Africa

Department of Chemical Engineering University of Science and Technology of Mazandaran P O Box Behshahr 48518 78195 Iran

Department of Civil Engineering Pardis Branch Islamic Azad University Pardis Iran

Department of Medical Instrumentation Techniques Engineering Al Mustaqbal University College 51001 Hilla Iraq

Faculty of Civil Engineering Architecture and Urban Planning University of Eyvanekey Eyvanki Iran

Faculty of Science and Technology School of Applied Physics University Kebangsaan Malaysia 43600 Bangi Selangor Malaysia

International Research Centre of Nanotechnology for Himalayan Sustainability Shoolini University Solan 173212 Himachal Pradesh India

Mechanical Engineering Department Government Engineering College Patan Patan Gujarat India

Sustainable Process Integration Laboratory Faculty of Mechanical Engineering SPIL NETME Centre Brno University of Technology VUT Brno Technická 2896 2 616 00 Brno Czech Republic

Tecnologico de Monterrey Escuela de Ingenieríay Ciencias Puebla Mexico

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Various advanced wastewater treatment methods to remove microplastics and prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to airborne microplastics