Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Microplastics in wastewater treatment plants: Sources, properties, removal efficiency, removal mechanisms, and interactions with pollutants

This review examines microplastic sources, properties, removal efficiency, and removal mechanisms across different wastewater treatment plant stages. Researchers found that while treatment plants remove a significant portion of microplastics, they cannot eliminate them entirely, resulting in the continued release of millions of particles into the environment daily through effluent and sludge.

2023 Water Science & Technology 128 citations
Article Tier 2

Occurrence and Removal of Microplastics in Wastewater Treatment Plants: Perspectives on Shape, Type, and Density

Researchers compiled data from multiple countries on microplastic removal efficiency across different stages of wastewater treatment plants. They found that removal rates varied widely, from 48% in some facilities to over 90% in others, depending on the treatment technologies employed. The study suggests that while conventional wastewater treatment can capture a significant portion of microplastics, advanced tertiary treatment methods are needed to further reduce discharge into the environment.

2024 Water 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Fate and occurrence of microplastics in wastewater treatment plants

This review summarizes recent research on the abundance and removal of microplastics in wastewater treatment plants, examining how different treatment stages capture or release microplastic particles and assessing the overall efficiency of current infrastructure.

2023 Environmental Science Advances 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent advances on microplastics pollution and removal from wastewater systems: A critical review

This review summarizes the latest research on microplastic detection, occurrence, and removal in wastewater treatment plants. While treatment plants can remove 57-99% of microplastics depending on the stage, significant amounts still escape into the environment through treated water and sludge. The findings highlight the need for advanced treatment methods to prevent microplastics from reaching waterways and ultimately human water supplies.

2023 Journal of Environmental Management 81 citations
Article Tier 2

The fate of microplastics in wastewater treatment plants: An overview of source and remediation technologies

This review examines how wastewater treatment plants serve as key pathways for microplastic entry into the environment, analyzing removal efficiencies across different treatment stages and identifying advanced technologies for improved microplastic remediation.

2022 Environmental Technology & Innovation 159 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Wastewater

This review examines microplastic detection, occurrence, and removal across wastewater treatment plant stages, finding that while treatment plants are a major source of microplastic pollution, no standardized detection protocols exist and removal efficiency remains inconsistent across facilities.

2023
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Wastewater Treatment Plants: Characteristics, Occurrence and Removal Technologies

This review summarizes how wastewater treatment plants are a major pathway for microplastics entering the environment, covering the types, sizes, and sources of microplastics found in wastewater. While treatment plants can remove many microplastics, significant amounts still escape into rivers and oceans through treated water and sludge. The authors evaluate various removal technologies and recommend advanced treatment methods to better prevent microplastics from reaching water supplies.

2024 Water 46 citations
Article Tier 2

Research progress on microplastics in wastewater treatment plants: A holistic review

This review provides a holistic assessment of microplastics in wastewater treatment plants, covering sampling methods, occurrence patterns across treatment stages, removal efficiencies, and the environmental risks posed by microplastic discharge through effluent and sludge.

2022 Journal of Environmental Management 88 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

Occurrence, Characteristics, and Removal of Microplastics in Wastewater Treatment Plants

This review summarizes the occurrence, characteristics, and removal efficiency of microplastics in wastewater treatment plants, highlighting how these facilities simultaneously act as sinks trapping microplastics and as sources releasing them into surrounding aquatic and terrestrial environments.

2025
Article Tier 2

Microplastics removal in wastewater treatment plants: a critical review

This critical review of microplastic removal in wastewater treatment plants examines removal efficiencies across different treatment stages, finding that while WWTPs remove the majority of microplastics from influent, they still release millions of particles daily and are a major pathway for microplastics entering aquatic environments.

2020 Environmental Science Water Research & Technology 398 citations
Article Tier 2

Nano and microplastics occurrence in wastewater treatment plants: A comprehensive understanding of microplastics fragmentation and their removal

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.

2023 Chemosphere 88 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

Where do they go? A review of the wastewater treatment process and its impact on the fate of microplastics

This review examines the fate of microplastics across the physical, chemical, and biological stages of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) processes, finding that WWTPs act as both sources and destinations for microplastics while not being designed to remove them, and surveying new removal strategies.

2025 Detritus
Article Tier 2

Distribution of Microplastics in Domestic Wastewater and Microplastics Removal Potential in Wastewater Treatment Plants

Researchers examined the distribution of microplastics in domestic wastewater in Indonesia and assessed the microplastic removal potential of wastewater treatment plants, using digestion, vacuum filtration, and microscopy to identify microplastics by concentration, shape, size, and color across treatment stages.

2023 Journal of Ecological Engineering 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Nano/microplastics in water and wastewater treatment processes – Origin, impact and potential solutions

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.

2019 Water Research 624 citations
Article Tier 2

Interactions between microplastics and unit processes of wastewater treatment plants: a critical review

This critical review examines how microplastics interact with each unit process in wastewater treatment plants, synthesizing removal efficiencies and identifying that while conventional treatment removes the majority of microplastics, small particles and fibers consistently pass through to effluent.

2021 Water Science & Technology 41 citations
Review Tier 2

Microplastics in wastewater treatment plants: A literature review of sampling methods and results

This review chapter summarizes sampling methods and reported microplastic concentrations in wastewater treatment plants across multiple studies. The review highlights wide variation in reported results and calls for standardized monitoring methods to enable meaningful comparisons of microplastic removal efficiency across different treatment facilities.

2020 IWA Publishing eBooks
Article Tier 2

A review of the removal of microplastics in global wastewater treatment plants: Characteristics and mechanisms

This review analyzed data from 38 wastewater treatment plants across 11 countries to understand how effectively they remove microplastics. While treatment plants can remove the majority of microplastics from wastewater, significant quantities still pass through into waterways, and the microplastics captured in sewage sludge may re-enter the environment when that sludge is applied to farmland.

2020 Environment International 589 citations
Article Tier 2

Understanding microplastic presence in different wastewater treatment processes: Removal efficiency and source identification

Researchers tracked microplastic removal across different treatment stages at two wastewater treatment plants and found overall removal rates of 90% and 97%. They discovered that population density in the served area was a bigger driver of influent microplastic levels than sewage volume, and that activated sludge served as the primary trap for captured particles. The study identified laundry washing and daily consumer products as the main sources of microplastics entering the treatment plants.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 22 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics removal in wastewater treatment plants

This review examines microplastic removal technologies in wastewater treatment plants, finding that tertiary chemical treatments — particularly disk filtration — demonstrate high effectiveness, while highlighting persistent challenges in achieving complete MP elimination from effluents.

2025 Reciklaza i odrzivi razvoj
Article Tier 2

Toward a Better Understanding of the Contribution of Wastewater Treatment Plants to Microplastic Pollution in Receiving Waterways

This review examines how wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) contribute to microplastic pollution in receiving waterways, synthesizing evidence on removal efficiencies of different treatment stages and the characteristics of microplastics that escape into the environment. Researchers found that while WWTPs remove the majority of incoming microplastics, they remain a significant source of microplastic discharge due to the large volumes of wastewater processed daily.

2022 Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Fate and Removal of Microplastics from Industrial Wastewaters

This review examines how industrial wastewater treatment plants handle microplastic contamination worldwide. Researchers found that treatment effectiveness varies widely depending on the industry and the technologies used. The paper highlights that industrial sources are a significant but often overlooked contributor to microplastic pollution in waterways.

2023 Sustainability 46 citations
Article Tier 2

Elimination of micro and nanoplastics in wastewater: technological advances and future perspectives

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.

2024 e_Buah