An Evidence Theory Approach to The Removal of Nano and Microplastic Pollution: Exploring Efficient Water Purification Methods

Plastic pollution, especially nano and microplastics, poses a major risk to aquatic ecosystems and human health. This paper focuses on analysing different methods for water purification from nano and microplastics, facing the important environmental challenge posed by plastic pollution in water bodies by evidence theory to decide the best techniques. A variety of treatment techniques, including physical, chemical and biological approaches, have been investigated in several studies to assess their effectiveness, feasibility and potential environmental impact. The novelty of this work lies in integrating the proposed treatment methods with Evidence Theory. By incorporating this theoretical perspective, the study not only assesses the effectiveness of different treatment techniques, but also examines their applicability in different pollution scenarios. It provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the changing effectiveness and dominance of plastic pollutants in aquatic environments. The best water treatment method derived from the evidence theory is reverse osmosis (RO), with a final basis probability assignment (BPA) value of 0.186711, and the most desirable method is Nanofiltration (NF), due to the more energy efficient than RO and minimal chemical usage. It’s final BPA is 0.14865. These results demonstrate that this approach enables a more complete and nuanced analysis, providing insights into how different methods can be optimized or combined for improved water quality management. The findings of this research contribute greatly to ongoing efforts in environmental protection and sustainability by providing a best diverse and multidimensional assessment of water treatment technologies.