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Cleaning Water from Plastic
Summary
This Ukrainian paper analyzes plastic contamination in water and proposes treatment methods including filtration and membrane technology for removing microplastics from tap water. Research found that bottled water contained more plastic particles than treated tap water in the cities studied.
Purpose. The main purpose of the article is to analyze the presence of plastic in the water of Ukraine and the world, as well as to suggest the methods for purifying water from plastic on the basis of the world and personal experience. Methodology. The studies were carried out on the basis of the analysis of scholarly domestic and foreign literature sources on the presence of plastic in the water of Ukraine, European countries, and the USA (1999–2018). Findings. The analyzed sources indicate that one of the main environmental threats of global scale is the presence of plastic in drinking and waste waters. The wastewater treatment facilities of the world are not sufficiently adapted to detect and trap plastic. The authors present the results of a comprehensive consideration of the issues related to the determination of the presence of plastic in various waters, their size and concentrations, and manufacturing materials. Plastic, entering the body of people, especially children, animals, sea fish, etc., has a negative influence on their health. Studies have been conducted to determine the content of plastic in drinking tap water in the cities of Dnipro and Zaporozhye. For example, drinking water from the tap contains from 4 to 10 particles of plastic per liter of water, the size of which exceeded 100 microns, that is, the average thickness of a human hair. And in bottled water of well-known trademarks «Morshinska» and «Buvette» contains from 49 to 102 particles of plastic per liter of water. Originality. The paper summarizes the existing and presents new methods and technologies for cleaning water from plastic, such as: filtering on various facilities (mechanical methods), flotation, membranous and reverse-osmotic systems, membrane bioreactors (physical-chemical and combined methods). As a second way to reduce the amount of plastic in water, it is proposed to create biodegradable plastics or prohibit their manufacture. Practical value. Given the prevalence of bottled water consumption worldwide, the results of this study confirm the need for further research on the effects of micro and nanoplastics on human health.