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Identification and Quantification of Microplastics in Effluents of Wastewater Treatment Plant by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)
Summary
Researchers used differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to identify and quantify microplastics including polyethylene, polystyrene, polypropylene, and PET in effluents from three wastewater treatment plants. Plants with only preliminary treatment removed less than 58% of microplastics, while those with secondary activated sludge treatment achieved 90 to 96.9% removal efficiency.
In this research, the presence of microplastics was detected through a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis of three wastewater treatment plants. One of these plants applied only a preliminary treatment stage while the others applied up to a secondary treatment stage to evaluate their effectiveness. The results showed the presence of polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which were classified as fragments, fibers or granules. During the evaluation of the plants, it was determined that the preliminary treatment did not remove more than 58% of the microplastics, while the plants applying up to a secondary treatment with activated sludge achieved microplastic removal effectiveness between 90% and 96.9%.
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