Pharmaceutical wastewater is generally characterized by high toxicity and the presence of refractory compounds that limit its biodegradability, making it a potential threat to the natural environment and to wastewater treatment plants, if not handled properly. The manufacturing of pharmaceutical compounds typically involves a variety of stages including conversion of natural substances into pharmaceutical ingredients through fermentation and extraction processes and mostly chemical synthesis. The amount and variety of wastes generated during the production of pharmaceuticals is significantly higher than the amount of the actual finished product and it has been reported that 200 to 30,000 kg of wastes can typically be generated for every kilogram of active ingredient produced (NRDC ). The composition of these pharmaceutical by-products varies as it depends on the type of drug manufactured, the materials used in the production and the actual operations involved.

The effluent generated by the formulation process is more heavily polluted and usually referred to as a strong stream. This is because the formulation effluent has low biodegradability due to the high level of active substance. These pharmaceutical by-products from the various production lines of the pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities eventually become part of the overall pharmaceutical wastewater which can have chemical oxygen demand (COD) as high as 80,000 mg L.

Several categories of pharmaceuticals raise particular concerns and among them antibiotics have significant impact in the environment where they can disrupt waste-water treatment processes and adversely affect ecosystems. Furthermore, pharmaceutical wastewater resulting from the manufacturing of antibiotics may contain bio refractory materials that cannot be readily degraded. Yet, biological treatment can still be a viable choice for treatment in combination with physicochemical processes. Because of the elevated COD content of pharmaceutical wastewater, anaerobic treatment could be a suitable option. With the help of SuperX and Super XL biological oxidation method, it was found that the wastewater could be processed at all organic loadings and phenol concentrations encountered in wastewater. Our biological technology allows transforming the organic and inorganic contaminants into gases and digested sludge. Moreover, biological reactors have less construction cost, easy operational and maintenance procedures.