0
Article Tier 2 Environmental Sources Sign in to save

Effect of polyethylene microplastics on activated sludge process - Accumulation in the sludge and influence on the process and on biomass characteristics

Process Safety and Environmental Protection 2020 58 citations

No summary available — this paper's abstract is not included in the open metadata provided by the publisher. Learn why →

Polymers

More Papers Like This

Article Tier 2

Current Progress of Microplastics in Sewage Sludge

AI summary Read the abstract

Researchers reviewed the presence of microplastics in sewage sludge, finding that while wastewater treatment plants capture most microplastics from water, the resulting sludge becomes a concentrated reservoir that can spread microplastics to agricultural soils when applied as fertilizer.

Article Tier 2

Occurrence and Fate of Microplastics in Anaerobic Digestion of Dewatered Sludge

AI summary Read the abstract

Researchers found that microplastics introduced during wastewater treatment are transferred into sewage sludge and survive the anaerobic digestion process, meaning they remain present when sludge is applied to agricultural land. This pathway represents a significant and underappreciated route for microplastic pollution to enter terrestrial ecosystems.

Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Biosolids Treatment Stream: Abundance, Fate and Methodologies

AI summary Read the abstract

This review examines the occurrence, fate, and transformation of microplastics throughout wastewater treatment biosolids streams, noting that conventional treatment effectively concentrates MPs in solid biosolids, roughly 50% of which are land-applied as agricultural fertilizer. Land application of biosolid-laden MPs represents a major but often overlooked terrestrial contamination pathway, enabling plastics to accumulate in farmland soils, enter crops, and ultimately reach humans through the food supply.

Research digests by email

When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.

Email me about

Share this paper