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Electrochemical treatment of wastewater to remove contaminants from the production and disposal of plastics: a review

Environmental Chemistry Letters 2022 52 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 55 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Borislav N. Malinović, Jernej Markelj, Andreja Žgajnar Gotvajn, Irena Kralj Cigić, Helena Prosen

Summary

Researchers reviewed electrochemical treatment methods for removing plastic-related contaminants from wastewater, including bisphenol A, phthalic acid esters, and benzotriazoles. The review confirmed that electrochemical treatments are a viable option for removing these persistent plastic contaminants, and assessed their effectiveness in terms of removal rates, transformation products, toxicity, and energy requirements.

Study Type Environmental

Abstract Wastewater is major source of contaminants originating from the production, usage, and disposal of plastic materials. Due to their poor biodegradability of these contaminants in municipal wastewater treatment plants, additional advanced oxidation processes such as electrochemical treatments have been developed to improve the standard biological treatment. Here we review the applications of electrochemical treatments of wastewater for the removal of the following plastic contaminants: bisphenol A, phthalic acid esters, and benzotriazoles. We present the effectiveness of treatment in terms of contaminant removal and mineralization; the identification of transformation products; toxicity assessment; and process energy requirements. In the present review, we have focused on the applications of electrochemical treatments of wastewater for the removal of three important groups of contaminants originating mainly from plastics: bisphenol A, phthalic acid esters, and benzotriazoles. The review focuses on the research of electrochemical treatments for these contaminants from the last five years. The papers are assessed from the point of i) effectiveness of treatment in terms of contaminant removal and mineralization; ii) identification of transformation products; iii) toxicity assessment; iv) processes’ energy requirements. Electrochemical treatments were confirmed to be a viable option for the removal of selected contaminants from wastewater.

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