A case study of identification and classification of microplastics using aluminium sulfate in wastewater treatment facility on the university campus

Abstract

This study is to identify the Microplastics in the effluent of the treatment plant on the University campus. The plastic with less than 5 (five) mm size is universally considered as Microplastics. Volume reduced sampling method is used and for sample concentration, Aluminium sulfate as the coagulant is used. A sample was concentrated as the liquid and solid powder. One micron filter paper is used. Visual identification was done using the dissecting microscope, For particles smaller than 40X magnification scanning electron microscope (SEM) we used. For Identification of polymers Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) was used. In FT-IR test results all the liquid samples were negative in a result, and all the solid samples were positive that, it showed the presence of polymer in the sample, the plastics identified are Polyethylene, polystyrene, Polyvinyl chloride, Polyamide (nylon) in the solid sample.