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Removal of Microplastics By Ozone Oxidation from Urban Wastewater Using Taguchi Experimental Design

Water Air & Soil Pollution 2025 5 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 53 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Eylem Topkaya, Ayla Arslan, Sevil Veli, Sinem Kuru, Mesut Sezer

Summary

Researchers evaluated ozone oxidation as a method for removing microplastics from urban wastewater treatment plant effluent, using Taguchi experimental design to optimize the process. The study identified optimal conditions of pH 7 with specific ozone doses and reaction times for effective microplastic removal, demonstrating that ozone treatment could be a viable approach for reducing microplastic discharge from wastewater facilities.

Study Type Environmental

Abstract In this study, the removal of microplastics (MPs) in secondary treatment effluent by ozone (O 3 ) oxidation was evaluated. The study was carried out with three samples taken from Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) discharge point. MPs between 200–5000 µm were identified in terms of number, shape, colour and type and then treated by O 3 oxidation in batch experiments. Taguchi design method was applied for process optimization. The parameters pH, ozone dose and reaction time were selected as the main factors affecting O 3 oxidation. The optimal conditions for MPs removal were pH 7, reaction time 60 min and O 3 dose 10 ppm. In the verification experiments carried out under this conditions, an average MP removal efficiency of 83% was obtained. FTIR analyses were performed on raw and treated wastewater. Five different polymer structures, Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Polyester (PES), Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and Polyurethane (PUR) were determined in raw wastewater. It was determined that these species were converted into low molecular weight organic compounds after ozone treatment. The results of kinetic studies were found to be in accordance with first order reaction kinetics (k = 0.02243 min −1 ). The cost of MP removal by ozone oxidation at the optimum experimental condition was 0.094 €/m 3 .

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