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Microplastics in water: types, detection, and removal strategies
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This review covers the different types of microplastics found in water, methods used to detect them, and strategies for removing them from water sources. Microplastics enter water systems from both industrial sources and the breakdown of larger plastic waste, posing threats to aquatic life and potentially human health. The authors evaluate removal techniques including filtration, chemical treatment, and biological approaches that could help clean contaminated water.
Microplastics are one of the most concerning groups of contaminants that pollute most of the surroundings of the Earth. The abundance of plastic materials available in the environment moved the scientific community in defining a new historical era known as Plasticene. Regardless of their minuscule size, microplastics have posed severe threats to the life forms like animals, plants, and other species present in the ecosystem. Ingestion of microplastics could lead to harmful health effects like teratogenic and mutagenic abnormalities. The source of microplastics could be either primary or secondary in which the components of microplastics are directly released into the atmosphere and the breakdown of larger units to generate the smaller molecules. Though numerous physical and chemical techniques are reported for the removal of microplastics, their increased cost prevents the large-scale applicability of the process. Coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, and ultrafiltration are some of the methods used for the removal of microplastics. Certain species of microalgae are known to remove microplastics by their inherent nature. One of the biological treatment strategies for microplastic removal is the activated sludge strategy that is used for the separation of microplastic. The overall microplastic removal efficiency is significantly high compared to conventional techniques. Thus, the reported biological avenues like the bio-flocculant for microplastic removal are discussed in this review article.
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This review examines technologies for removing microplastics from aquatic environments, covering physical, chemical, and biological treatment methods and their relative effectiveness. Identifying and improving removal strategies is urgent because microplastics are now found throughout drinking water sources, oceans, and freshwater systems, posing risks to wildlife and human health.
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