Abstract
This study investigates the removal of microplastics from wastewater in an urban wastewater treatment plant located in Southeast Spain, including an oxidation ditch, rapid sand filtration, and ultraviolet disinfection. A total of 146.73 L of wastewater samples from influent and effluent were processed, following a density separation methodology, visual classification under a stereomicroscope, and FTIR analysis for polymer identification. Microplastics proved to be 72.41% of total microparticles collected, with a global removal rate of 64.26% after the tertiary treatment and within the average retention for European WWTPs. Three different shapes were identified: i.e., microfiber (79.65%), film (11.26%), and fragment (9.09%), without the identification of microbeads despite the proximity to a plastic compounding factory. Fibers were less efficiently removed (56.16%) than particulate microplastics (90.03%), suggesting that tertiary treatments clearly discriminate between forms, and reporting a daily emission of 1.6 × 107 microplastics to the environment. Year variability in microplastic burden was cushioned at the effluent, reporting a stable performance of the sewage plant. Eight different polymer families were identified, LDPE film being the most abundant form, with 10 different colors and sizes mainly between 1–2 mm. Future efforts should be dedicated to source control, plastic waste management, improvement of legislation, and specific microplastic-targeted treatment units, especially for microfiber removal.
Highlights
Introduction5 mm in their longest dimension [3], can originate from the decomposition of macroplastics (secondary MPs) or be intentionally manufactured by different firms with a microscopic size (primary MPs) [4]
Future efforts should be dedicated to source control, plastic waste management, improvement of legislation, and specific microplastic-targeted treatment units, especially for microfiber removal
Plastic pollution is a widespread problem, mainly affecting the oceans and human health, food safety, and climate change, and its world production has been reported to have grown from 359 million tons in 2018 to 368 million tons in 2019 [1]
Summary
5 mm in their longest dimension [3], can originate from the decomposition of macroplastics (secondary MPs) or be intentionally manufactured by different firms with a microscopic size (primary MPs) [4]. Primary MPs are used in the form of spherules as precursors in the plastic industry, with a wide range of applications such as packaging, office equipment, and vehicle construction, or as scrubbing material in personal care products or air-blasting granules and pellets, among other uses [4]. Secondary MPs are formed by means of chemical and physical mechanisms such as hydrolytic degradation, photolysis, weathering, ultraviolet radiation, or abrasion [5,6], or via biotic degradation, as biodeterioration [7,8]
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