Development of a Simple Treatment System for Microplastic Pollution in Water Environment

Microplastics are small-sized and microscopic plastic materials produced by both commercial product development and the breakdown of bigger polymers.Microplastics can be hazardous to the environment and animal health as a contaminant.For the first time, scientists discovered microplastic contamination in human blood, with the microscopic particles found in over 80% of those examined.In a city like Khulna, microplastic contamination of water bodies is becoming an alarming issue day by day.Microplastics are entering directly into the human body through the food chain.This study aims to develop a simple treatment system for microplastic pollution in water environment and monitor the performance of the developed treatment system.The FTIR analysis test proves that there is the presence of microplastics.There is a relation between the wavenumber and absorbance of a tested sample.The lighter the atoms the higher the frequency of wavenumber.This means the concentration of microplastics is much lower if the frequency is high.From the figure, three peaks in the graph were identified.The lowest wavenumber 67.96/CM was found at absorbance 474.488(%T).This test result indicates the presence of microplastics.Another two down-peaks were likely to be less susceptive.A total of five water samples were collected from five different locations to assess the quality.Water samples from the Rupsha river bank at the Khan Jahan Ali bridge site in Lobon Chora and manually made samples were tested.Testing of the sample includes TS, TDS, TSS, Turbidity and Microscopic Examination.Then simple filtration techniques of various combinations and layers of brick chips, stone chips and mix of the materials were tested, whether the microplastics were reduced or not.The values were satisfied and prove that the rates and concentration of microplastic were significantly lower.The value showed for Brick chips, Stone chips and Mixes of 3 inch & 6-inch values were respectively TS (1390, 65, 84; 1140, 142, 109; 993, 127, 78 mg/L), TDS (200, 57, 79; 910, 98, 68; 930,74, 41 mg/L), TSS (90, 8, 5; 230, 44, 41; 63, 53, 37 mg/L), Turbidity (0.94, 1.51, 11.8; 0.88, 8.71, 9.1; 1.47, 6.2, 7.5 N.T.U).The results achieved after conducting the tests, it proves that the presence of microplastics was significantly reduced after providing 3 and 6-inch layers of brick chips, stone chips and their mixes of brick-stone chips.