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Nano/microplastics in water and wastewater treatment processes – Origin, impact and potential solutions
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This review examined the origin, fate, and impacts of nano- and microplastics in water and wastewater treatment processes, finding that small particle sizes and diverse polymer compositions make complete removal challenging across conventional and advanced treatment stages. The authors identify detection limitations and process instability as key barriers to effective water treatment for nanoplastics.
The presence of nano and microplastics in water has increasingly become a major environmental challenge. A key challenge in their detection resides in the relatively inadequate analytical techniques available preventing deep understanding of the fate of nano/microplastics in water. The occurrence of nano/microplastics in water and wastewater treatment plants poses a concern for the quality of the treated water. Due to their broad but small size and diverse chemical natures, nano/microplastics may travel easily along water and wastewater treatment processes infiltrating remediation processes at various levels, representing operational and process stability challenges. This review aims at presenting the current understanding of the fate and impact of nano/microplastics through water and wastewater treatment plants. The formation and fragmentation mechanisms, physical-chemical properties and occurrence of nano/microplastics in water are correlated to the interactions of nano/microplastics with water and wastewater treatment plant processes and potential solutions to limit these interactions are comprehensively reviewed. This critical analysis offers new strategies to limit the number of nano/microplastics in water and wastewater to keep water quality up to the required standards and reduce threats on our ecosystems.
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This review provides a comprehensive look at how nano- and microplastics move through wastewater treatment plants, from entry to discharge. Researchers examined how larger plastic particles fragment into smaller nano-sized pieces during treatment processes and evaluated which treatment stages are most effective at removing them. The study finds that while conventional treatment removes most microplastics, significant quantities of nanoplastics may still pass through into waterways.
Occurrence, Fate, and Treatment of Micro/Nano Plastics in Drinking Water Sources
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This review covers the challenges of detecting and removing microplastics from water, noting that their small size and diverse composition make treatment difficult. Most conventional water treatment processes are not designed to remove microplastics effectively.
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This work reviews technological advances and future perspectives for the elimination of micro- and nanoplastics from wastewater, synthesizing current approaches and their effectiveness across different treatment stages. The review highlights ongoing challenges in capturing the smallest plastic particles and identifies promising directions for next-generation treatment systems.
Nanoplastics in water and wastewater: remediation technologies, challenges, and future perspectives
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This review paper examines methods for removing tiny plastic particles, called nanoplastics, from water and wastewater. It finds that techniques like filtration and chemical treatment often just move the particles elsewhere rather than destroying them, while advanced chemical treatments can break them down under certain conditions. The authors say more testing in real water systems is needed to confirm which methods truly remove nanoplastics.
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