In recent years, pharmaceutical products have been causing a serious environmental problem in hospital wastewater and water purification plants. The elimination of these pollutants is difficult due to their resistance to biological degradation. Paracetamol has been detected in higher concentrations in hospital wastewater than in other buildings. Activated carbons are a good material for removing paracetamol from hospital wastewater. One of the starting materials to obtain activated carbons is kenaf, which is an easy plant to cultivate. To study the elimination of paracetamol from hospital wastewater by activated carbon, the textural and chemical characterization of activated carbon, as well as the kinetic study and the analysis of the paracetamol adsorption mechanism by the adsorbent, have been carried out. The activated carbon samples studied are micro-mesoporous, with high specific surface values. The chemical composition with presence of oxygen groups favours the adsorption process. The adsorption kinetics were adjusted to a pseudo-second order model. The adsorption mechanism followed the intraparticular diffusion model, carried out in two stages: a fast first stage on the surface of the adsorbent and a slow one inside the pore. Based on the kinetic study, the use of this type of carbon is a good application for the removal of paracetamol from hospital wastewater.

The purpose of this article is to estimate the economic and environmental impacts of energy consumption derived from healthcare buildings and proposes several energy-saving options in the sector. An experimental energy consumption study was development between 2005 and 2013 in 12 hospitals and 70 healthcare centres in Spain, built between 1980 and 2005 through audits carried out between 2005 and 2012, performed by the Extremadura Energy Agency. The study focused on electric energy, HVAC, DWH, lighting systems, renewable energies, maintenance strategy, thermal insulation, and optimal building size. Specifically, the following parameters were evaluated: energy savings, investment emission of CO₂, NO₂, and SO₂ gases, and payback. The results revealed that through an appropriate energy management of healthcare buildings it is possible to save up to 8.60 kWh/m² per year, for buildings of less than 5000 m² (with no beds), which represents an expense of 1.55 €/m². In healthcare buildings larger than 5000 m² (with beds), it was possible to save up to 6.88 kWh/m² per year, which represents an expense of 1.25 €/m².

The use of benchmarking in the management of healthcare facilities enables immediate comparison between hospitals. Benchmarking allows ascertaining their expected energy consumption and estimating the possible savings margin. In the 2005–2015 period, 90 EU Eco-Audits of 23 public hospitals in Germany were studied to analyze the energy consumption related with weather conditions, built surface area, gross domestic product (GDP), geographic location (GL), bed numbers, and employee numbers. The results reveal that the average annual energy consumption of a hospital under normal conditions, both climatic and operational, is 0.27 MWh/m², 14.37 MWh/worker, and 23.41 MWh/bed. The indicator dependent on the number of beds proved to be the most suitable as a reference to quantify the energy consumption of a hospital.