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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Microplastics are effective carriers of bisphenol A and facilitate its escape from wastewater treatment systems
ClearInsights into removal mechanisms of bisphenol A and its analogues in municipal wastewater treatment plants
Researchers critically reviewed how bisphenol A (BPA) and related compounds are removed in municipal wastewater treatment plants, finding that sludge adsorption plays a key role but that newly produced BPA from degrading microplastics in wastewater complicates removal and may explain why real-world performance deviates from theoretical predictions.
Size- and Polymer-Specific Assessment of Micro- and Nanoplastics in a European Wastewater Treatment System
Scientists studied tiny plastic particles in European wastewater treatment plants and found that these facilities can remove most microplastics from sewage, but many still escape into the environment. Even though the treatment plants filter out a lot of plastic pollution, the enormous amount of wastewater they process means millions of plastic particles still end up in rivers and oceans every day. This matters because these plastic particles can eventually make their way into our drinking water and food chain, potentially affecting human health.
Accumulation of persistent organic pollutants by MPs in coastal wastewater treatment plants
Researchers examined how microplastics in coastal wastewater treatment plants accumulate persistent organic pollutants such as dioxins, furans, and PCBs. They found that untreated influent contained the highest concentrations of these hazardous chemicals sorbed onto microplastic surfaces. The study highlights that microplastics can act as carriers for toxic pollutants through wastewater systems and into the environment.
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.
Microplastics act as a carrier for wastewater-borne pathogenic bacteria in sewage
Researchers found that microplastics in sewage systems serve as carriers for pathogenic bacteria, including disease-causing species that can colonize their surfaces. The study highlights that because microplastics are small enough to pass through wastewater treatment filtration systems, bacteria-laden microplastics may be released into waterways, raising concerns for public health.
Fate and behavior of microplastics in wastewater, accumulation in organisms and effects
This review examines the fate and behavior of microplastics through wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) unit processes, their accumulation in sludge, and their effects on aquatic organisms receiving treated effluent. The authors note that while conventional WWTPs remove 64-99% of microplastics, the remaining daily discharge still represents a substantial pathway for microplastic entry into aquatic environments.
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.
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.
Wastewater treatment plant effluent as a source of microplastics: review of the fate, chemical interactions and potential risks to aquatic organisms
This review examines wastewater treatment plant effluent as a source of microplastics entering aquatic environments. The study found that even though treatment plants remove most microplastics, the small amounts remaining in effluent may still contribute significantly to environmental contamination, and the chemical interactions between microplastics and other pollutants in wastewater raise additional ecological concerns.
Transport and fate of microplastic particles in wastewater treatment plants
Researchers tracked microplastic particles through multiple stages of a wastewater treatment plant, finding that particles were concentrated in sludge but that a fraction passed through each treatment stage and remained in the final effluent.
Wastewater-Derived Microplastics as Carriers of Aromatic Organic Contaminants (AOCs): A Critical Review of Ageing, Sorption Mechanisms, and Environmental Implications
This review examines how microplastics from wastewater treatment plants act as carriers for aromatic organic contaminants such as PAHs and pesticides. Researchers found that aging and biofilm formation on these microplastics enhance their ability to absorb and transport pollutants through the environment. The study highlights significant gaps in understanding real-world microplastic-contaminant interactions and calls for improved models to assess ecological exposure risks.
Revealing the Key Impact of Microplastic-Derived Dissolved Organic Matter Properties on Aromatic Pollutant Adsorption and the Underlying Mechanisms
Researchers examined how dissolved organic matter released from different types of microplastics affects the adsorption of aromatic pollutants like bisphenol A and naphthalene. The study found that microplastic-derived dissolved organic matter substantially suppressed the ability of treatment materials to capture these pollutants, revealing an underappreciated way that microplastic degradation products can worsen water contamination.
Microplastics as vector for persistent organic pollutants in urban effluents: The role of Polychlorinated Biphenyls
This study examined microplastics in urban stormwater and wastewater effluents, finding that they can carry persistent organic pollutants into receiving water bodies. The research underscores the role of microplastics as vectors for chemical contamination in urban water systems.
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.
Microplastics: Transport and removal at wastewater treatment plants
This book chapter reviews the transport and removal of microplastics at wastewater treatment plants, summarizing efficiency data across different treatment processes. Even high-performing plants release microplastics into water bodies, making treated effluent a significant ongoing source of environmental contamination.
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.
Characterization of nanoplastics and small-sized microplastics in sewage treatment
Researchers developed a novel investigation into nanoplastics and small microplastics (50–2500 nm) in sewage treatment plants, finding these tiny particles present in both raw and treated sewage and characterizing their recovery rates through different treatment stages.
Fate of microplastics in wastewater treatment plants and their environmental dispersion with effluent and sludge
Researchers tracked microplastics through a wastewater treatment plant and found 12 different polymer types in effluents and sludge, with smaller particles (25–104 μm) most abundant and fibres displaying lower sizes than fragments. The study demonstrates that WWTPs do not fully remove microplastics and that processed sludge marketed as soil amendment carries plastic contamination.
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.
Microplastic pollution is widely detected in US municipal wastewater treatment plant effluent
Researchers conducted a wide survey of US municipal wastewater treatment plants and found microplastics widely present in effluent, confirming that conventional treatment does not fully remove microplastics and that treatment plants are ongoing sources of environmental contamination.
Influence of bisphenol A concentration on organic matter removal and nitrification in biological wastewater treatment
Laboratory wastewater treatment experiments found that Bisphenol A (BPA), a plasticizer that leaches from many plastics, disrupted nitrification — the key microbial process that removes ammonia from wastewater — at concentrations of 10 mg/L by reducing populations of the nitrifying bacterium Nitrosomonas. Because wastewater treatment plants are critical for protecting water quality, these results highlight how plastic-derived chemical pollution can impair the very infrastructure designed to clean contaminated water.
Occurrence and distribution of microplastic particles and the concentration of Di 2-ethyl hexyl phthalate (DEHP) in microplastics and wastewater in the wastewater treatment plant
Researchers investigated the presence and fate of microplastics during the wastewater treatment process, along with the plasticizer DEHP associated with them. They found that while treatment stages reduced microplastic numbers, the particles persisted throughout the process, and DEHP was detected in both the microplastics and surrounding wastewater. The study suggests that wastewater treatment plants are a significant pathway through which microplastics and associated chemicals enter the environment.
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.
Meso- and microplastics accumulate and transfer hazardous contaminants from wastewater treatment plants to the environment
Researchers investigated how meso- and microplastics in wastewater treatment plants accumulate organic and inorganic pollutants, including metals, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides. They found that plastic particles act as carriers for these contaminants, redistributing them through both treated water discharge and sludge applied to land. The study suggests that wastewater treatment plants, while partially removing plastics, also serve as pathways for contaminated microplastics to reach the environment.