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Identification and quantification of nanoplastics (20–1000 nm) in a drinking water treatment plant using AFM-IR and Pyr-GC/MS
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Researchers developed a method combining atomic force microscopy with infrared spectroscopy and pyrolysis gas chromatography to detect nanoplastics in drinking water treatment plants. The study identified polyethylene and PVC nanoplastics ranging from 20 to 1,000 nanometers and found that while the treatment process removed up to 98% of PE nanoplastics, the ozonation step actually increased nanoplastic concentrations. Evidence indicates that certain water treatment stages may generate rather than remove nanoscale plastic particles.
Nanoplastics, owing to their small particle size, pose a significant threat to creatures, deserving heightened attention. Numerous studies have investigated microplastics pollution and their removal efficiency in drinking water treatment plants, none of which have involved nanoplastics due to lacking a suitable analytical method. This study introduced a feasible method of combing AFM-IR and Pyr-GC/MS to identify and quantify nanoplastics (20-1000 nm) for a preliminary understanding of their fate during drinking water treatment processes. Resolving of chemical functional groups and pyrolysis products from AFM-IR and Pyr-GC/MS data demonstrated the presence of PE and PVC nanoplastics in this drinking water treatment plant. The initial influent abundances of PE and PVC nanoplastics were 0.86 μg/L and 137.31 μg/L, with subsequent increase to 4.49 μg/L and 208.64 μg/L in ozonation contact tank unit. Then a gradual decreasing was observed along water process, achieving 98.4% removal of PE nanoplastics and 44.0% removal of PVC nanoplastics, respectively. Although this drinking water treatment plant has exhibited a certain level of nanoplastics removal efficiency, particular attention should be directed to the oxidation unit, which appears to be a significant source of nanoplastics. This study will lay a foundation for revealing nanoplastics pollution in the environment.
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Scientists used a new technique called AFM-IR, which combines atomic force microscopy with infrared spectroscopy, to identify individual nanoplastic particles in environmental water for the first time. This method can detect particles as small as 100 nanometers, far beyond the limits of traditional microscopy. They found several types of nanoplastics in a water sample, including an epoxy and a biodegradable plastic, demonstrating that this tool could improve our ability to track nanoplastic pollution.
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Tiny plastic particles called microplastics, small enough to slip past standard filters, are showing up in the water treatment plants that clean our drinking water. This study looked at how well current treatment methods actually remove these particles, since even after processing, some microplastics may still end up in the water coming out of your tap. Because we don't yet fully understand what swallowing these particles over time does to our bodies, tracking where they slip through the system is an important step toward making drinking water safer.
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