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Advanced strategies for the detection, Removal, and degradation of microplastics: Bridging science and sustainable technologies
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Microplastics, tiny plastic particles found in water, food, and even our bodies, are a growing health concern because they can carry toxic chemicals and don't break down easily. This review rounds up the latest tools scientists have for finding these particles, removing them from the environment (like advanced filters and light-based treatments), and even breaking them down using bacteria and enzymes. The takeaway: while promising cleanup technologies exist, researchers still need to weigh how practical, affordable, and environmentally friendly these solutions are before they can be widely used to reduce our exposure to microplastics.
Microplastic (MPs) pollution poses an escalating threat to ecosystems and human health due to its persistence, bioaccumulative nature, and ability to transport toxic contaminants. This article presents a critical and systematic review of advanced strategies for the detection, removal, and degradation of MPs in complex environmental matrices. High-resolution analytical techniques including μ-FTIR, μ-Raman, Pyr-GC/MS, and electron microscopy are evaluated in terms of their capabilities, limitations, and complementarity. Conventional physical and physicochemical treatments such as membrane filtration, coagulation-flocculation, and adsorption in porous media are discussed alongside emerging technologies, including visible-light photocatalysis, electrochemical oxidation, functionalized nanomaterials, continuous-flow systems, and modular integrated processes. The review also explores biotechnological approaches such as plastic-degrading enzymes, engineered microbial consortia, and phytoremediation, as well as thermal conversion methods like catalytic pyrolysis and gasification for energy recovery. Distinctively, this work integrates Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Techno Economic Analysis (TEA) with biotechnology and engineering perspectives, offering a holistic framework rarely addressed in previous reviews. By incorporating LCA and TEA, the review assesses both scalability and sustainability, proposing a multidisciplinary, adaptive framework for effective and long term microplastic management.
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Researchers reviewed the origins, degradation pathways, detection methods, and treatment technologies for microplastics, finding that their persistence and bioaccumulation potential make them a significant threat to ecosystems and human health requiring multifaceted remediation approaches.
Issues of Microplastics and Sustainable Removal Techniques
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Researchers reviewed the distribution of microplastics across environmental compartments and assessed sustainable removal techniques including filtration, bioremediation, and advanced oxidation processes. Because microplastics persist ubiquitously in air, water, soil, and food, no single removal method is sufficient — this review frames the scale of the challenge and the need for integrated, multi-stage mitigation strategies.
Unveiling the Microplastics: Sources, Distribution, Toxicological Impacts, Extraction Methods, Degradational Strategies, Paving the Path to a Sustainable Future
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Researchers reviewed the sources, environmental distribution, and toxicological impacts of microplastics, highlighting microbial degradation as a promising remediation strategy and the emerging use of machine learning with spectroscopic data for accurate microplastic identification and classification.
Current Methods and Prospects for Sampling, Separation, Detection, and Removal of Microplastics in Different Environmental Media
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This systematic review compares sampling, separation, detection, and removal methods for microplastics across aquatic, soil, and atmospheric media, evaluating the advantages and limitations of each approach and identifying gaps that hinder cross-study comparisons. Standardizing these methods is a foundational requirement for generating reliable data on microplastic exposure levels in the environment and in humans, which is necessary before meaningful regulatory or health guidelines can be established.
Microplastics—A Review of Sources, Separation, Analysis and Removal Strategies
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A comprehensive review of microplastic sources, analytical separation techniques, and removal strategies found that plastics enter both aquatic and terrestrial environments through diverse pathways, with no single removal approach currently capable of addressing the full scope of contamination. Developing integrated detection-to-removal pipelines is essential for reducing the environmental load and limiting ongoing human and wildlife exposure.
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