Study the Effectiveness of Household Water Filtration Systems in Eliminating Plastic Particles in Mosul City, Iraq

Plastic particles are considered a concerning issue on a global scale. This research aims to examine the existence, features of microplastics (MPs) and evaluate the removal efficiency (RE%) of household water filter systems (HWFS). The research was conducted in 12 areas distributed across Mosul city / Iraq. Various techniques, including fourier transform spectroscopy (FTIR), stereomicroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), were employed to accurately detect the presence of microplastics, analyze morphological properties, such as color, shape, and size, and determine the polymer types. The research findings showed that the efficiency of HWFS ranged from 93% to 30%, affected by several factors, including filter age and the number of its stages. Fibers and fragments were the most commonly encountered shapes of MPs accounting for about 94% of the examined instances. Around 52% of the total was characterized by a transparent colour. An estimated 35% of MPs sizes were smaller than 10 µm. Out of the types of polymers, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) represented the highest percentage, around 58%. Moreover, PVC was found to have a higher risk index compared to other types of polymers.