An Innovative Sorption Technology for Removing Microplastics from Wastewater

This study is focused on technology development for microplastic removal from wastewater using a sorption process, which would be suitable not only as a tertiary stage of purification in wastewater treatment plants but also for other waters, e.g., process water and surface water. Therefore, cheap na...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water (Basel) 2023-03, Vol.15 (5), p.892
Main Authors: Spacilova, Marketa, Dytrych, Pavel, Lexa, Martin, Wimmerova, Lenka, Masin, Pavel, Kvacek, Robert, Solcova, Olga
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abrasion
Activated carbon
Efficiency
Laboratories
Microplastics
Oxidation
Performance evaluation
Photocatalysis
Plastic pollution
Pollutants
Polyethylene
Process water
Purification
Raman spectroscopy
Scanning electron microscopy
Sewage
Sorbents
Sorption
Spectrum analysis
Stainless steel
Surface water
Technology
Wastewater purification
Wastewater treatment
Wastewater treatment plants
Water treatment
Water treatment plants
Zeolites
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Summary:This study is focused on technology development for microplastic removal from wastewater using a sorption process, which would be suitable not only as a tertiary stage of purification in wastewater treatment plants but also for other waters, e.g., process water and surface water. Therefore, cheap natural materials such as zeolites and bentonites were tested as possible sorbents. This study aims not only at sorbent selection but also at their possible modification by a special water regime improving sorption efficiency and lifetime. Microplastic particles of the majority of common types of plastics were prepared by a newly developed abrasion technique from various plastic items used at home, thus microplastic particle sizes and shapes corresponded to the real microplastics found in waters. Based on results with high reproducibility, a novel method for microplastic characterization based on Raman spectroscopy in combination with SEM/EDX was developed. The removal of microplastics from waste water was tested not only at the laboratory scale but also in a developed semi-operational sorption unit at a real wastewater treatment plant throughout the year with the efficiency of over 90%.
ISSN:2073-4441
2073-4441
DOI:10.3390/w15050892