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Assessing the Mass Concentration of Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Wastewater Treatment Plants by Pyrolysis Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry

Environmental Science & Technology 2023 169 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 60 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Yanghui Xu, Yanghui Xu, Yanghui Xu, Yanghui Xu, Yanghui Xu, Qin Ou, Yanghui Xu, Yanghui Xu, Yanghui Xu, Yanghui Xu, Qin Ou, Qin Ou, Qin Ou, Xintu Wang, Xintu Wang, Qin Ou, Jan Peter van der Hoek, Yanghui Xu, Yanghui Xu, Yanghui Xu, Peng Li, Peng Li, Xintu Wang, Qin Ou, Qin Ou, Qin Ou, Qin Ou, Qin Ou, Qin Ou, Xintu Wang, Qin Ou, Qin Ou, Qin Ou, Qin Ou, Qin Ou, Xintu Wang, Jan Peter van der Hoek, Jan Peter van der Hoek, Xintu Wang, Peng Li, Jan Peter van der Hoek, Qin Ou, Qin Ou, Gang Liu Xintu Wang, Xintu Wang, Xintu Wang, Gang Liu Xintu Wang, Peng Li, Yanghui Xu, Peng Li, Jan Peter van der Hoek, Gang Liu Xintu Wang, Jan Peter van der Hoek, Gang Liu Jan Peter van der Hoek, Gang Liu Peng Li, Peng Li, Feng Hou, Xintu Wang, Jan Peter van der Hoek, Gang Liu Jan Peter van der Hoek, Jan Peter van der Hoek, Jan Peter van der Hoek, Peng Li, Jan Peter van der Hoek, Gang Liu Gang Liu Gang Liu Jan Peter van der Hoek, Gang Liu Gang Liu Gang Liu Jan Peter van der Hoek, Peng Li, Gang Liu

Summary

Researchers used pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to measure the mass concentration of both microplastics and nanoplastics at different stages of wastewater treatment. They found that treatment plants removed over 93% of microplastics and nanoplastics by mass, but measurable amounts still remained in treated effluent. The study provides important data on nanoplastic levels in wastewater, which have been largely unmeasured due to limitations of previous detection methods.

Study Type Environmental

The level of microplastics (MPs) in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) has been well evaluated by the particle number, while the mass concentration of MPs and especially nanoplastics (NPs) remains unclear. In this study, pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to determine the mass concentrations of MPs and NPs with different size ranges (0.01-1, 1-50, and 50-1000 μm) across the whole treatment schemes in two WWTPs. The mass concentrations of total MPs and NPs decreased from 26.23 and 11.28 μg/L in the influent to 1.75 and 0.71 μg/L in the effluent, with removal rates of 93.3 and 93.7% in plants A and B, respectively. The proportions of NPs (0.01-1 μm) were 12.0-17.9 and 5.6-19.5% in plants A and B, respectively, and the removal efficiency of NPs was lower than that of MPs (>1 μm). Based on annual wastewater effluent discharge, it is estimated that about 0.321 and 0.052 tons of MPs and NPs were released into the river each year. Overall, this study investigated the mass concentration of MPs and NPs with a wide size range of 0.01-1000 μm in wastewater, which provided valuable information regarding the pollution level and distribution characteristics of MPs, especially NPs, in WWTPs.

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