Semi-crystalline microplastics in wastewater plant effluents and removal efficiencies of post-treatment filtration systems

Water Research X

article

Hajo Bitter¹  Leonie Krause¹  Franziska Kirchen¹  Thomas Fundneider¹  Susanne Lackner¹ 

[1] Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Sciences, Institute IWAR, Chair of Water and Environmental Biotechnology, Technical University of Darmstadt

关键词: Microplastics;    Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC);    Tertiary treatment;    Surface and depth filtration;    Environmental emissions;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.wroa.2022.100156

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Academic Press

【 摘 要 】

Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous in the environment and have been found in every environmental compartment. Wastewater and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been identified as possible point sources contributing to the emission of microplastic particles (MPP) into the aquatic environment. So far, MPP in wastewater effluents have mainly been analyzed by spectroscopic methods resulting in concentrations as number per volume. In this study, we present mass concentrations in the secondary effluents of four German municipal WWTPs, removal efficiencies of seven post-treatment systems and the resulting load emissions. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) was used for the analysis of semi-crystalline MPs. The concentrations of secondary effluents ranged from 0.1 to 19.6 µg L -1 . Removal efficiencies > 94% were found for a microfiltration membrane (MF), two cloth types of a pile cloth media filter (PCMF), a micro strainer, a discontinuous downflow granulated activated carbon filter (GAC) and a powdered activated carbon (PAC) stage with clarifier and rapid sand filtration. A rapid sand filter (RSF) at WWTP B showed a removal efficiency of 82.38%. Only a continuous upflow GAC filter at WWTP C proved to be unsuitable for MP removal with an average removal efficiency of 1.9%.

【 授权许可】

CC BY|CC BY-NC-ND