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Characteristics of microplastics distribution at water treatment plants
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Three water treatment plants in South Korea's Jeju Province contained microplastics in raw water at 0.075–0.620 MP/L, with particles smaller than 50 µm comprising the majority and polypropylene as the dominant polymer; conventional sedimentation and rapid filtration achieved the highest removal efficiency at 93.5%. Continuous monitoring of drinking water treatment performance against sub-100-µm particles is critical, as these smallest fractions pose the greatest ingestion risk and are hardest to capture.
The number, size, and material distribution of microplastics (MPs) sized 20-200 μm in the raw water and water treatment processes were analyzed using FT-IR in three water treatment plants in Jeju Province. The number of MPs was detected at 0.075-0.620 MP/L in raw water and 0.040-0.047 MP/L in filtered water, which is relatively lower than the results of other studies. Regarding the size of the MPs, particles sized 20-50 μm in both the raw water and the treated water accounted for the highest proportion, representing 65.6% and 56.3% of the total, respectively. In terms of MP type distribution, polypropylene (PP) was identified as the main type at 58.7%. In the water purification process, the MPs removal efficiency was the highest at 93.5% in the sedimentation and rapid filtration process, followed by 58.4% in membrane filtration and 40.0% in slow filtration. Continuous monitoring of the distribution of MPs in raw water and water treatment processes is recommended.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.