Microplastic abundance, characteristics, and removal in wastewater treatment plants in a coastal city of China

Long, Zouxia; Pan, Zhong; Wang, Wenling; Ren, Jianye; Yu, Xi; Lin, Longshan; Lin, Hui; Chen, Hongzhe; Jin, Xiaofeng

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2019.02.028

Cited by 373 publications

(168 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Wastewater treatment plants are also a major source of microplastics release (Browne et al 2011;Long et al 2019). Whereas large plastic particles are efficiently removed during wastewater treatment, microplastics often bypass the treatment units, thus entering and accumulating in the aquatic environment (Murphy et al 2016).…”

Section: Microplastic Sources and Occurrencementioning

confidence: 99%

Removal of microplastics from the environment. A review

et al. 2020

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The production of fossil fuel-derived, synthetic plastics is continually increasing, while poor plastic waste management has recently induced severe pollution issues. Microplastics are plastic particles smaller than 5 mm. Microplastics are ubiquitous and slowly-degrading contaminants in waters and soils. Microplastics have long residence time, high stability, high potential of being fragmented and can adsorb other contaminants. Many aquatic species contain microplastics, which are in particular easily accumulated by planktonic and invertebrate organisms. Then, microplastics are transferred along food chains, leading to physical damages, decrease in nutritional diet value and exposure of the living organism to pathogens. Raw plastics contain chemical additives such as phthalates, bisphenol A and polybrominated diphenyl ethers that may induce toxic effects after ingestion by living organisms. Furthermore, the adsorption capability of microplastics makes them prone to carry several contaminants. Methods to remove microplastics from water and other media are actually needed. Here, we review microplastics occurrence, transport, raw polymers and additives, toxicity and methods of removal. Removal methods include physical sorption and filtration, biological removal and ingestion, and chemical treatments. Mechanisms, efficiency, advantages, and drawbacks of various removal methods are discussed.

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Section: Microplastic Sources and Occurrencementioning

confidence: 99%

Removal of microplastics from the environment. A review

et al. 2020

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“…Kooi and Koelmans (2019) provide the shares most common microplastics polymer types in the aquatic environment: PE 25%, PET 16.5%, and PP (14%). Based on literature (Talvitie et al, 2015;Murphy et al, 2016;Lares et al, 2018;Simon et al, 2018;Wolff et al, 2019;Long et al, 2019), review papers (Kang et al, 2018;Gatidou et al, 2019;Sun et al, 2019) and taking into account the data quality assessment by Koelmans et al (2019), we calculated an average minimum of 511 and an average maximum of 18,196 PE/PP particles/m 3 raw wastewater and an average minimum of 119 and an average maximum of 21,967 PE/PP particles/m 3 in stormwater. Based on Murphy et al (2016); Long et al (2019) and Wolff et al (2019) we calculated an average minimum of 401 and an average maximum of 14,492 PET particles/m 3 raw wastewater and stormwater.…”

Section: Plastic Polymers and Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transport and Behavior of Microplastics Emissions From Urban Sources in the Baltic Sea

Schernewski

Radtke

Hauk

et al. 2020

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Urban sources, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), untreated wastewater (not connected to WWTPs), and especially combined sewer overflow systems (CSS) including stormwater are major pathways for microplastics in the aquatic environment. We compile microplastics emission data for the Baltic Sea region, calculate emissions for each pathway and develop emission scenarios for selected polymer types, namely polyethylene (PE)/polypropylene (PP) and the polyester polyethylene terephthalate (PET). PE/PP and PET differ with respect to their density and can be regarded as representative for large groups of polymers. We consider particles between 20-500 µm with varying shapes. The emission scenarios serve as input for 3D-model simulations, which allow us to estimate transport, behavior, and deposition in the Baltic Sea environment. According to our model results, the average residence time of PET and PE/PP in the Baltic Sea water body is about 14 days. Microplastics from urban sources cause average concentrations of 1.4 PE/PP (0.7 PET) particles/m 2 sea surface (20-500 µm size range) in the Baltic Sea during summer. Average concentrations of PET, resulting from urban sources, at the sea floor are 4 particles/m 2 sediment surface during summer. Our model approach suggests that accumulation at the shoreline is the major sink for microplastic with annual coastal PE/PP and PET accumulation rates of up to 10 8 particles/m each near emission hot-spots and in enclosed and semi-closed systems. All concentrations show strong spatial and temporal variability and are linked to high uncertainties. The seasonality of CSS (including stormwater) emissions is assessed in detail. In the southeastern Baltic, emissions during July and August can be up to 50% of the annual CSS and above 1/3 of the total annual microplastic emissions. The practical consequences especially for monitoring, which should focus on beaches, are discussed. Further, it seems that PET, PE/PP can serve as indicators to assess the state of pollution.

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“…Several detection and analytical methods have been developed to quantify and qualify MP contamination in wastewater and sludge (Sun et al 2019). However, there is no standardized protocol available for the sample collection, detection, identification, and analysis of MPs (Long et al 2019). Not only the methodology, but also the MP classification is not yet unified.…”

Section: Current Detection and Analytical Methods Of Mps For Wastewatmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Visual inspection is an important step before chemical characterization through different techniques. Since MPs in wastewater or sludge samples have various colors and shapes, visual sorting with different combinations of colors and shapes not only quantifies the MP abundance with the specific characteristics but also enhance the representativeness of all identified particles through chemical analysis (Long et al 2019). However, it can underestimate or overestimate the MP abundance in the samples due to the errors made by observers and subjective judgment.…”

Section: Visual Inspectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics in Wastewater

Khan¹,

Cheng²,

Hafeez

et al. 2020

Handbook of Microplastics in the Environment

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Microplastics (MPs) are unregulated and emerging contaminants, which are continuously released due to human activities in the environment through several pathways. The presence of MPs poses threats to the environment, organisms, and human health. The discharge of treated effluent from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is a major source of MP input, especially in the form of microfibers, into the aquatic environment, whereas the application of sludge and compost is a crucial pathway transferring MPs to terrestrial environment. Meanwhile, MPs are produced from industrial processes and the use of plastic consumer goods and personal care products. MPs become more hazardous when they adsorb persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals or attach with pathogenic microorganisms from wastewater and sludge. However, there is little comprehensive information available about the collaborative role of wastewater and sludge in MP contamination. Studies about remediation strategies and their removal mechanisms of MPs in WWTPs are limited. Therefore, it is important to develop cost-effective detection methods of MPs for routine monitoring in wastewater and sludge samples and understanding of fate and inhibitory effects of MPs in wastewater and sludge treatment processes, before developing the mitigation measures of MP contamination. This chapter summarizes the sources and pathways of MPs, discusses the impacts of MPs on environment and human health, and reviews the current practices on detection, quantification, and qualification of MPs. In addition, this chapter provides insights into the source control of MPs through polices and education.

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Microplastic abundance, characteristics, and removal in wastewater treatment plants in a coastal city of China

Cited by 373 publications

References 59 publications

Removal of microplastics from the environment. A review

Removal of microplastics from the environment. A review

Transport and Behavior of Microplastics Emissions From Urban Sources in the Baltic Sea

Microplastics in Wastewater

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