Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Treatment technologies for the removal of micro plastics from aqueous medium

Researchers reviewed treatment technologies for removing microplastics from water, finding that while multiple methods including filtration, membrane processes, and coagulation show promise, their effectiveness depends on microplastic size, type, and concentration.

2022 AIP conference proceedings 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Innovative technologies for removal of micro plastic: A review of recent advances

Researchers reviewed emerging technologies for removing microplastics from wastewater, covering filtration, coagulation, biological treatment, and other methods used at treatment plants. The review highlights which approaches show the most promise and calls for broader adoption and improved standardization so that microplastics are more consistently captured before they reach rivers, lakes, and oceans.

2024 Heliyon 55 citations
Article Tier 2

Effectiveness of conventional municipal wastewater treatment plants in microplastics removal: Insights from multiple analytical techniques

Researchers evaluated the effectiveness of conventional municipal wastewater treatment plants in removing microplastics across multiple treatment stages, finding removal efficiencies of 70–90% but documenting that billions of particles still pass through in final effluent daily.

2025 Journal of Environmental Sciences 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Integrating microplastic management into a broader wastewater decision-making framework. Is activated granular sludge (AGS) a game changer?

Researchers compared three wastewater treatment technologies for their ability to remove microplastics: conventional activated sludge, membrane bioreactors, and activated granular sludge. While membrane bioreactors performed best at removing microplastics, activated granular sludge emerged as the most cost-effective option with strong overall environmental performance. The study suggests that integrating microplastic management into wastewater treatment decisions requires balancing removal efficiency against energy use, cost, and environmental impact.

2024 Journal of Water Process Engineering 6 citations
Article Tier 2

A comprehensive review of microplastics in wastewater treatment plants

This review surveys microplastic removal technologies used in wastewater treatment plants, comparing membrane bioreactors, electrocoagulation, coagulation-sedimentation, and biodegradation approaches. Understanding removal efficiency at treatment plants is critical because they are a primary pathway by which microplastics — and the toxic chemicals they carry — reach rivers, coastal waters, and ultimately drinking water supplies.

2024 BIO Web of Conferences 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Treatment processes for microplastics and nanoplastics in waters: State-of-the-art review

This review summarized established and emerging treatment processes for removing microplastics and nanoplastics from drinking water and wastewater, evaluating coagulation, membrane filtration, advanced oxidation, and biological treatment in terms of removal efficiency and operational feasibility.

2021 Marine Pollution Bulletin 102 citations
Article Tier 2

Preventing Microplastic Release into Oceans through Wastewater Treatment Technologies.

Comparing immersed and sidestream membrane bioreactors for microplastic removal from wastewater, this analysis found membrane bioreactors more efficient than conventional treatment, identifying them as a key technology to prevent microplastic release to oceans.

2024 Science and Technology of Engineering Chemistry and Environmental Protection
Systematic Review Tier 1

Microplastic particles in the aquatic environment: A systematic review

Among treatment technologies for microplastic removal from water, membrane bioreactors achieved the highest efficiency (>99%), followed by activated sludge (~98%) and rapid sand filtration (~97%), while hybrid treatment approaches showed the best overall removal performance.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 238 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics removal through water treatment plants: Its feasibility, efficiency, future prospects and enhancement by proper waste management

Researchers reviewed over 80 studies on water treatment plant performance and found microplastic removal ranges widely — from 16% in basic primary treatment up to near 100% with advanced membrane systems — but a major flaw is that removed microplastics concentrate in sludge, which can re-enter the environment. The review recommends optimizing coagulants and sludge treatment to prevent microplastics from simply being relocated rather than eliminated.

2021 Environmental Challenges 181 citations
Article Tier 2

When Technology Meets Sustainability: Microplastic Removal from Industrial Wastewater, Including Impact Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment

Researchers assessed a novel pilot plant that removes microplastics from industrial wastewater using organosilane-based agglomeration followed by belt filtration, and conducted a life cycle assessment. The system achieved 98% MP removal by mass and 99.9987% by particle count while reducing chemical oxygen demand by 96%, with the life cycle assessment confirming the environmental feasibility of the approach.

2025 Water 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic remediation technologies in water and wastewater treatment processes: Current status and future perspectives

This review covers the main technologies for removing microplastics from water and wastewater, including membrane filtration, chemical coagulation, adsorption, biological methods, and advanced oxidation. Each method has trade-offs between effectiveness, cost, and environmental impact, and no single approach removes all microplastics completely. The review emphasizes the urgent need for better removal methods since microplastics have already been detected in human blood and infant feces.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 119 citations
Article Tier 2

When technology meets sustainability – microplastic removal from industrial wastewater including impact analysis and life cycle assessment

Researchers conducted a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a novel pilot plant for removing microplastics and chemical oxygen demand (COD) from industrial plastics processing wastewater in Germany, using the Wasser 3.0 PE-X approach based on physical agglomeration and organosilane-based chemical fixation. The study evaluated the environmental sustainability of implementing this microplastic removal technology in an industrial wastewater context.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Filtration Methods for Microplastic Removal in Wastewater Streams — A Review

This review surveys filtration, membrane, coagulation, and biological methods for removing microplastics from wastewater, concluding that membrane bioreactors and dynamic membranes are among the most effective current technologies. The paper provides a useful comparative overview for engineers and policymakers seeking cost-effective solutions to prevent microplastics from passing through treatment plants into waterways.

2023 International Journal of High Speed Electronics and Systems 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Removal of microplastics from wastewater through electrocoagulation-electroflotation and membrane filtration processes

Researchers investigated electrocoagulation-electroflotation and membrane filtration for removing microplastics from wastewater, finding that combining these processes effectively recovers microplastic particles from treatment plant effluent.

2021 Water Science & Technology 149 citations
Article Tier 2

Removal of microplastics in water: Technology progress and green strategies

Researchers reviewed existing technologies for removing microplastics from water, including filtration, magnetic separation, chemical coagulation, and biodegradation. Each method has significant trade-offs — filtration is costly, chemical approaches risk secondary pollution, and biological methods are slow — pointing to the need for integrated, environmentally friendly strategies that combine multiple approaches.

2022 Green Analytical Chemistry 144 citations
Article Tier 2

How to remove microplastics in wastewater? A cost-effectiveness analysis

A cost-effectiveness analysis of microplastic removal in wastewater treatment found that activated sludge, rapid sand filtering, and membrane bioreactor technologies differ substantially in removal efficiency and cost per unit removed, with membrane bioreactors achieving the highest removal but at prohibitive cost.

2021 Ecological Economics 72 citations
Article Tier 2

Influence of wastewater treatment process on pollution characteristics and fate of microplastics

Researchers investigated microplastic abundance and removal efficiency across four wastewater treatment plants using different treatment technologies, finding influent concentrations between 539 and 1,290 particles per liter that were reduced substantially by primary and secondary treatment. Smaller microplastic particles proved hardest to remove and most likely to persist in final effluent.

2021 Marine Pollution Bulletin 45 citations
Article Tier 2

Understanding and Improving Microplastic Removal during Water Treatment: Impact of Coagulation and Flocculation

Researchers systematically tested coagulation and flocculation for removing microplastics from drinking water, finding that removal efficiency depended strongly on plastic particle size and whether particles had been weathered, with smaller pristine particles being the hardest to remove.

2020 Environmental Science & Technology 424 citations
Article Tier 2

The influence of coagulation process conditions on theefficiency of microplastic removal in water treatment

Researchers investigated how coagulation process conditions — including coagulant type, pH, and microsand addition — affect the removal of polyethylene, PVC, and textile microfibers from river water, municipal wastewater, laundry effluent, and synthetic matrices. Ferric chloride and polyaluminum chloride both achieved substantial removal, with performance varying significantly by water matrix and microplastic type.

2025 National Repository of Dissertations in Serbia
Article Tier 2

Microplastic removal in coagulation-flocculation: Optimization through chemometric and morphological insights

Researchers optimized the coagulation-flocculation process — a standard water treatment step where chemicals cause particles to clump and settle — for removing three types of microplastics: polypropylene, polyethylene, and polystyrene. Polystyrene was removed most efficiently, and adjusting pH, coagulant type, and dosage significantly improved removal rates, providing practical guidance for upgrading existing water treatment plants to better capture microplastics.

2026 Journal of Ecological Engineering
Article Tier 2

Evaluation of a Water Treatment System for Removing Microplastic in an Aqueous Media

Researchers evaluated the microplastic removal efficiency of a hybrid water treatment system combining a Bradley-type hydrocyclone, sand filter, and polymeric microfiltration membrane, applying mass balance equations and solid-liquid separation models to determine removal performance across different MP size fractions.

2025 Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental
Article Tier 2

Microplastics_Removal

Researchers evaluated the efficiency of a microplastic removal system for synthetic wastewater that combines a chemical treatment process with simple filtration, measuring removal performance across different microplastic types and concentrations.

2025 Open Science Framework
Article Tier 2

Review and future outlook for the removal of microplastics by physical, biological and chemical methods in water bodies and wastewaters

This review compares physical, biological, and chemical methods for removing microplastics from water and wastewater, including newer approaches like advanced membranes, bacterial degradation, and electrochemical treatment. Each method has trade-offs between removal efficiency, cost, and environmental impact, and no single technique currently solves the problem completely. The review emphasizes that developing effective microplastic removal technology is urgent for protecting both ecosystems and human drinking water supplies.

2025 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 25 citations
Article Tier 2

Advancing micro- and nanoplastics mitigation: functional materials, hybrid treatment trains, and TEA-LCA pathways for sustainable water systems

This review evaluates advanced materials and treatment systems for removing micro- and nanoplastics from water, finding that hybrid treatment approaches can remove over 95% of microplastics while limiting membrane fouling. The study also examines the economic and environmental tradeoffs of these technologies through life-cycle assessment, highlighting the need for energy and carbon optimization in multi-barrier water treatment systems.

2026 Chemical Engineering Journal Advances