Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Effects of microplastics accumulation on performance of membrane bioreactor for wastewater treatment

Researchers simulated the long-term accumulation of polypropylene microplastics in membrane bioreactors used for wastewater treatment. They found that while microplastic accumulation did not reduce the removal of key pollutants like COD and ammonia nitrogen, it did increase membrane fouling and alter the composition of microbial communities in the reactor. The study suggests that microplastic buildup in wastewater treatment systems may affect operational efficiency over time.

2021 Chemosphere 77 citations
Article Tier 2

Fouling behavior of nano/microplastics and COD, TOC, and TN removal in MBR: A comparative study

This study tested a membrane bioreactor (MBR) — a combination of biological treatment and membrane filtration used in wastewater plants — for its ability to remove nano- and microplastics from wastewater. The system achieved 99.4% removal of organic pollutants and complete removal of nanoplastics, and found that more hydrophilic membranes were better at capturing microplastics. The study also examined how microplastics foul and clog membranes over time, which is a practical challenge for wastewater treatment operations. These results support MBRs as a promising technology for reducing microplastic discharges from treatment plants into waterways.

2025 Water Environment Research 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Effect of polypropylene microplastics on the performance of membrane bioreactors in wastewater treatment

Researchers studied how polypropylene microplastics affect membrane bioreactors, a type of wastewater treatment system. They found that while these systems can effectively filter out microplastics, higher concentrations and smaller particle sizes caused membrane clogging and reduced treatment efficiency over time, which is important for designing better wastewater treatment facilities.

2025 Environmental Research 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Responses of syntrophic microbial communities and their interactions with polystyrene nanoplastics in a microbial electrolysis cell

Researchers investigated how polystyrene nanoplastics affect microbial communities in a microbial electrolysis cell, a technology used for energy recovery during wastewater treatment. They found that nanoplastics disrupted the biofilm structure and altered the composition of the microbial communities responsible for breaking down waste. The study suggests that nanoplastic contamination in wastewater could reduce the efficiency of these promising electrochemical treatment systems.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Exploring the effects of polyethylene and polyester microplastics on biofilm formation, membrane Fouling, and microbial communities in Modified Ludzack-Ettinger-Reciprocation membrane bioreactors

Researchers investigated how polyethylene pellets and polyester fibers affect membrane bioreactor performance in wastewater treatment. They found that PE pellets increased membrane fouling rates 2-3 times faster, while polyester fibers reduced nitrate removal efficiency from 99.6% to 90.9% and decreased beneficial denitrifying bacteria. The study also found that microplastics in treatment systems can harbor pathogens and alter microbial community structures.

2024 Bioresource Technology 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent advances on micro/nanoplastic pollution and membrane fouling during water treatment: A review

Researchers reviewed recent advances in understanding how micro- and nanoplastics contribute to membrane fouling during water treatment processes. The study found that while membrane separation effectively removes microplastics from wastewater effluent, fouling caused by plastic particles along with dissolved organics and extracellular polymers remains a key obstacle, and understanding the fouling mechanisms is critical for improving treatment efficiency.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 64 citations
Article Tier 2

The effects of microplastics and nanoplastics on nitrogen removal, extracellular polymeric substances and microbial community in sequencing batch reactor

Researchers found that polystyrene nanoplastics and microplastics impaired nitrogen removal in sequencing batch reactors by reducing denitrification rates, altering extracellular polymeric substances, and shifting microbial community composition in activated sludge.

2023 Bioresource Technology 54 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of polyethylene terephthalate microplastics on performance of sequencing-batch membrane bioreactor for simulated municipal wastewater treatment

Researchers assessed the impact of PET microplastics on a sequencing-batch membrane bioreactor treating simulated municipal wastewater and found that PET MPs altered microbial community composition, reduced treatment efficiency at higher concentrations, and increased membrane fouling. The study highlights risks to wastewater infrastructure from microplastic contamination.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Responses of nitrogen removal under microplastics versus nanoplastics stress in SBR: Toxicity, microbial community and functional genes

Researchers compared the effects of microplastics versus nanoplastics on nitrogen removal in sequencing batch reactors used in wastewater treatment. The study found that microplastics had no significant effect on nitrogen removal, while high concentrations of nanoplastics impaired the process by disrupting microbial communities and functional gene expression. The results suggest that nanoplastics may pose a greater threat to biological wastewater treatment performance than microplastics.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 73 citations
Article Tier 2

Adaptation responses of microalgal-bacterial granular sludge to polystyrene microplastic particles in municipal wastewater

Researchers found that polystyrene microplastics of varying sizes did not significantly impair organic, ammonia, or phosphorus removal in microalgal-bacterial granular sludge systems treating municipal wastewater, though the microplastics did alter microbial community composition.

2022 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 28 citations
Article Tier 2

Response of aerobic granular sludge under acute inhibition by polystyrene microplastics: Activity, aggregation performance, and microbial analysis

Researchers investigated how different concentrations of polystyrene microplastics affect the performance of aerobic granular sludge used in wastewater treatment. The study found that increasing microplastic concentrations inhibited nitrogen removal rates and disrupted the microbial community structure within the sludge. Evidence indicates that microplastic contamination in wastewater can compromise the effectiveness of biological treatment processes.

2024 Environmental Pollution 17 citations
Article Tier 2

Impact of nanoplastics on membrane scaling and fouling in reverse osmosis desalination process

This study investigated how polystyrene nanoplastics affect membrane scaling and fouling in reverse osmosis desalination, finding that nanoplastics interacted with silica to alter fouling behavior and reduce membrane performance. The results highlight nanoplastics as a potentially disruptive contaminant for desalination infrastructure.

2023 Water Research 26 citations
Article Tier 2

Impact and microbial mechanism of continuous nanoplastics exposure on the urban wastewater treatment process

Researchers investigated the effects of continuous nanoplastic exposure on wastewater treatment over 200 days, finding that while total nitrogen removal was not significantly inhibited, nanoplastics altered microbial community composition and affected nitrification and denitrification processes.

2022 Water Research 37 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of microplastic accumulation on floc characteristics and fouling behavior in a membrane bioreactor

Researchers found that accumulating microplastics in membrane bioreactors over 124 days decreased sludge floc size, floc hydrophobicity, and extracellular polymeric substance molecular size while increasing EPS concentration and negative surface charge, altering microbial community composition and increasing membrane fouling severity.

2020 Journal of Hazardous Materials 99 citations
Article Tier 2

Experimental Evaluation of the Process Performance of MF and UF Membranes for the Removal of Nanoplastics

Researchers evaluated microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) membrane performance for removing polystyrene nanospheres (120 and 500 nm) from water, finding that UF membranes can achieve high removal of nanoplastic particles that conventional wastewater treatment misses.

2023 Membranes 18 citations
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

Enhanced Microplastics Removal from Paper Recycling Industry Wastewater Using Membrane Bioreactor Technology

A membrane bioreactor (MBR) system was evaluated for removing microplastics from paper recycling industry wastewater, achieving high removal efficiencies by combining biological treatment with membrane filtration to prevent MP discharge into receiving water bodies.

2025 Nature Environment and Pollution Technology
Article Tier 2

Revealing the influencing mechanisms of polystyrene microplastics (MPs) on the performance and stability of the algal-bacterial granular sludge

Researchers investigated how polystyrene microplastics affect algal-bacterial granular sludge used in wastewater treatment, finding that the sludge removed over 96% of incoming microplastics but that microplastics inhibited COD removal by 2.6 to 4.1% and total phosphorus removal by 2.9 to 5.8%. Structural stability was compromised through oxidative stress, altered protein composition, and reduced abundance of key functional bacteria.

2022 Bioresource Technology 73 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
Article Tier 2

Effect of polystyrene nanoplastics on the activated sludge process performance and biomass characteristics. A laboratory study with a sequencing batch reactor

Researchers evaluated the effect of 100 nm polystyrene nanoplastics at 2 micrograms per liter on activated sludge performance and microbial community composition in a sequencing batch reactor over an extended laboratory experiment. No significant changes in nitrification or organic matter removal efficiency (96% for both reactors) were observed, but a notable increase in Patescibacteria abundance and stagnation of Nitrotoga growth in the nanoplastic-exposed reactor suggested subtle community-level sensitivity.

2022 Journal of Environmental Management 17 citations
Article Tier 2

Impact of polyethylene microplastics on the nitrogen removal and bacterial community in sequencing batch reactor at different hydraulic retention times

Researchers examined how polyethylene microplastics affect nitrogen removal performance in biological wastewater treatment at different hydraulic retention times. The study found that the presence of microplastics amplified the negative effects of shortened treatment times on nitrogen removal efficiency and altered bacterial communities and enzyme levels involved in nitrification and denitrification, offering new insights into how microplastics interfere with wastewater treatment processes.

2025 Journal of Environmental Management 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Fate and removal efficiency of polystyrene nanoplastics in a pilot drinking water treatment plant

Researchers investigated how effectively a pilot-scale drinking water treatment plant removes polystyrene nanoplastics. The study found that sand and activated carbon filtration alone achieved 88.1% removal, but adding a coagulation step dramatically improved removal efficiency to 99.4%, with most nanoplastics captured during the sand filtration process.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 87 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics shaped performance, microbial ecology and community assembly in simultaneous nitrification, denitrification and phosphorus removal process

This study found that polystyrene and PVC microplastics disrupted the performance of wastewater treatment systems designed to remove nitrogen and phosphorus, reducing nitrogen removal by up to 10%. The microplastics altered microbial communities, decreased cooperation between beneficial bacteria, and blocked important biological pathways. Since wastewater treatment is a key barrier against pollution reaching drinking water, microplastic interference with these systems could indirectly increase human exposure to harmful contaminants.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of polystyrene nanoplastics on extracellular polymeric substance composition of activated sludge: The role of surface functional groups

Researchers investigated how three types of polystyrene nanoplastics with different surface functional groups affect activated sludge used in wastewater treatment. All three types significantly reduced total protein production in the sludge and caused cellular oxidative stress and membrane damage, with positively charged particles causing the most harm. The findings suggest that nanoplastic contamination in wastewater could impair the biological processes essential for effective sewage treatment.

2021 Environmental Pollution 79 citations