Average daily flow of microplastics through a tertiary wastewater treatment plant over a ten-month period

Water Research
Reina M BlairCaroline Gauchotte-Lindsay

Abstract

Microplastics (MPs, <5 mm in size) are classified as emerging contaminants but treatment processes are not designed to remove these small particles. Wastewater treatment systems have been proposed as pathways for MPs pollution to receiving waters but quantitative and qualitative data on MP occurrence and transport remains limited, hindering risk assessment and regulation. Here, for the first time, the stepwise abundance and loading of MPs (60-2800 μm) in a tertiary wastewater treatment plant in the UK was assessed by sampling from May 2017 to February 2018. Microplastics were found in all sampling campaigns, with an average inflow of 8.1 × 108 (95% CI, 3.8 × 108 to 1.2 × 109) items day-1. Their prevalence decreased from influent to final effluent. Overall abundances decreased on average by 6%, 68%, 92%, and 96% after the pre-treatment, primary, secondary, and tertiary treatment stages respectively, although considerable variability occurred throughout the year. Sufficient particles remained in the treated effluent to generate an average discharge of 2.2 × 107 (95% CI, 1.2 × 107 to 3.2 × 107]) particles day-1 to the recipient river. Secondary MPs were predominant, while primary MP abundances were minimal. Fibres comprised 67% of...Continue Reading

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Mar 9, 2019·Environmental Science and Pollution Research International·Reina M BlairCaroline Gauchotte-Lindsay

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Citations

Apr 27, 2020·Environmental Science and Pollution Research International·Omoniyi PereaoOlalekan Fatoki
Oct 30, 2020·Environmental Pollution·Alice A HortonAndrew C Johnson
Feb 1, 2021·Journal of Hazardous Materials·Manish KumarMohammad J Taherzadeh
Dec 15, 2020·The Science of the Total Environment·Mengjie WuChunping Yang
Mar 3, 2020·The Science of the Total Environment·Esmeralda Michelle Sánchez-OcampoLeobardo Manuel Gómez-Oliván
Feb 26, 2021·The Science of the Total Environment·Mohammad Boshir AhmedMyung-Han Yoon
Jun 23, 2020·The Science of the Total Environment·Daniel SolMario Díaz
Jun 30, 2021·Marine Pollution Bulletin·M A Martín-LaraM Calero
Jul 31, 2021·The Science of the Total Environment·Zhaoqing WangTanguang Gao
May 21, 2020·Environmental Science & Technology·Dounia Elkhatib, Vinka Oyanedel-Craver
Sep 4, 2021·Environmental Geochemistry and Health·Bingyu ChenXinli Cai
Sep 17, 2021·Environmental Science and Pollution Research International·Silvia GalafassiPietro Volta

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