Influence of wastewater treatment process on pollution characteristics and fate of microplastics

The increasing abundance of microplastics (MPs) in rivers and oceans continues to face major challenges. In particular, MPs with smaller particle sizes are difficult to identify and quantify when they reach the environment. This study investigated four typical wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine pollution bulletin 2021-08, Vol.169, p.112448-112448, Article 112448
Main Authors: Xu, Xia, Zhang, Ling, Jian, Yun, Xue, Yingang, Gao, Yu, Peng, Mingguo, Jiang, Shanqing, Zhang, Qiuya
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abundance
Industrial pollution
Influents
Microplastics
Microplastics (MPs)
Oceans
Plastic debris
Plastic pollution
Pollution characteristics
Population number
Removal
Removal efficiency
Rivers
Sewage disposal
Tertiary
Wastewater pollution
Wastewater treatment
Wastewater treatment plants
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs)
Wastewater treatment process
Water treatment
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Summary:The increasing abundance of microplastics (MPs) in rivers and oceans continues to face major challenges. In particular, MPs with smaller particle sizes are difficult to identify and quantify when they reach the environment. This study investigated four typical wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), including urban WWTPs and industrial WWTP with different treatment technologies. The results showed that the average abundance of MPs in the influent and effluent was 538.67 ± 22.05 n/L to 1290 ± 65.26 n/L and 20.44 ± 1.19 n/L to 40.67 ± 11.12 n/L. The primary and secondary treatment processes can effectively remove MPs between 51.04% and 72.82% from wastewater. After tertiary treatments, the removal efficiency was further increased to more than 90%. The study aims to explore the removal mechanism of MPs in each stage of the wastewater treatment process and to reveal the fate of MPs in WWTPs, and help to understand their future monitoring to optimize the wastewater treatment process. [Display omitted] •The average removal of MPs in domestic and industrial wastewater treatment plants from Changzhou in China was 92.42 to 97.81%.•PES, PET and PP were the dominant polymer types in four wastewater treatment plants.•The removal efficiency of MPs by A/O process was higher than other wastewater treatment processes.
ISSN:0025-326X
1879-3363
DOI:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112448