Transport of microplastic in porous media

The issue of microplastics, as a widespread and poorly degradable type of waste burdening the environment, has attracted significant attention in recent years. While many studies focus on microplastics, their occurrence and transport in porous media, and thus in groundwater are often overlooked. This review-based bachelor's thesis therefore aims to summarize the available literature concerning the mobility of microplastic particles in porous environments. The thesis presents methodology of column experiments, which represent a key method for studying particle movement through porous materials. It also describes the main mathematical models commonly used to simulate particle transport and retention, as well as their implementation in computer simulations. The following section evaluates the influence of microplastic particle properties and environmental characteristics on particle mobility, with an emphasis on quantifying these effects. The concluding summary assesses the scope of existing studies on the topic, as well as the remaining gaps in research such as the lack of field data, the omission of numerous processes in numerical models, and the scarcity of experiments conducted under conditions approximating the complexity of real environments. In doing so, the thesis also outlines opportunities...