Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Enhanced microplastic removal using a mini-hydrocyclone with microbubbles

Researchers improved microplastic separation from water by combining mini-hydrocyclones with microbubble injection, finding that the microbubbles reduced apparent microplastic density and substantially improved separation efficiency for particles with densities similar to water.

2025 Water Research
Article Tier 2

Emerging investigator series: suspended air nanobubbles in water can shuttle polystyrene nanoplastics to the air–water interface

Nanobubbles suspended in water can physically carry nanoplastic particles to the air-water interface and concentrate them there, but only when the repulsive electrical charge between the particles and bubbles is reduced by adjusting pH. This discovery points toward a potential low-energy method for removing nanoplastics from water, which is currently one of the hardest fractions of plastic pollution to filter out.

2024 Environmental Science Nano 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Utilization of Bubbles and Oil for Microplastic Capture from Water

Researchers demonstrated a simple method using vegetable oil and air bubbles to capture over 98% of microplastics from water, achieving complete removal of larger particles and high capture of microfibers — a potentially passive, low-cost cleanup approach that avoids releasing secondary contamination into treated water.

2024 Engineering 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Advanced nanobubble flotation for enhanced removal of sub-10 µm microplastics from wastewater

Scientists developed a nanobubble-assisted flotation technique that improves removal of very small microplastics (under 10 micrometers) from wastewater by up to 17% compared to traditional methods. Removing these tiny particles is especially important because their small size makes them more likely to pass through water treatment and eventually be consumed by humans.

2024 Nature Communications 41 citations
Article Tier 2

Marine microplastic separation device based on micro nano bubble flotation technology

Researchers designed a marine microplastic separation device using micro-nano bubble flotation technology to address limitations of existing methods, enabling continuous separation of microplastic particles from seawater with improved efficiency and reduced risk of secondary contamination.

2024 International Journal of Frontiers in Engineering Technology
Article Tier 2

Overlooked Role of Bulk Nanobubbles in the Alteration and Motion of Microplastics in the Ocean Environment

Researchers examined how bulk nanobubbles in ocean water alter the motion and behavior of microplastics at the shoreline, finding that nanobubbles interact with microplastic surfaces in ways influenced by salinity and external energy, affecting how microplastics move and accumulate in marine environments.

2023 Environmental Science & Technology 19 citations
Article Tier 2

A Novel Application of Ultrasound for Removal of Aqueous Microplastics

Researchers investigated bath-type ultrasonication as a novel method for removing microplastics from aqueous environments, reporting this as the first application of this technique for microplastic remediation. The ultrasound-based approach showed promise as an effective treatment strategy for addressing microplastic pollution in water systems.

2025 ACS ES&T Water
Article Tier 2

Assessment of sub-200-nm nanobubbles with ultra-high stability in water

Not relevant to microplastics — this study investigates the stability and physical properties of sub-200 nm nanobubbles in water for use in environmental remediation and industrial applications, with no microplastic content.

2023 Applied Water Science 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoscale insight into the interaction mechanism underlying the transport of microplastics by bubbles in aqueous environment

Nanoscale experiments revealed that bubble capture of microplastics in water is governed by hydrophobic interactions and surface charge complementarity between bubbles and MP particles. Understanding these mechanisms is critical for modeling the role of bubbles in transporting MPs from water to air-water interfaces and across environmental compartments.

2024 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Removal of micron-scale microplastic particles from different waters with efficient tool of surface-functionalized microbubbles

Researchers used surface-functionalized microbubbles (colloidal gas aphrons) to simultaneously remove micron-scale microplastic particles and dissolved organic matter from water, achieving over 94% polystyrene removal and near-complete color elimination in river water and wastewater plant influent through electrostatic and complexation interactions.

2020 Journal of Hazardous Materials 105 citations
Article Tier 2

Enhanced removal of microplastics using microflotation

Researchers demonstrated that microflotation, a process using optimized small bubble sizes, can remove 84-98% of microplastics from water without requiring chemical additives like flocculants or coagulants. Using a pilot-scale system, they tested removal of 30 and 100 micrometer polystyrene particles across environmentally relevant concentrations. The study suggests that microflotation offers an efficient and chemical-free alternative for microplastic removal in water treatment applications.

2026 The Science of The Total Environment
Article Tier 2

Environmental aspects of restoring the environment: nanotechnology for removing micro and nanoplastics from water

Researchers developed a plasma chemical water purification method that combines modified humic substances with high-voltage electrical discharge to aggregate and magnetically remove micro- and nanoplastics from contaminated water. Tested on wastewater from a printing facility, the method outperformed conventional sorption or plasma treatment alone and showed promise for simultaneously removing plastics, heavy metals, and organic pollutants. This offers a potentially scalable technology for treating industrial wastewater sources that are currently releasing nanoplastics to the environment.

2023 Environment & Health
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

The removal efficiency and mechanism of microplastic enhancement by positive modification dissolved air flotation

Researchers enhanced dissolved air flotation by modifying the process with positively charged surfaces to improve microplastic removal from freshwater, finding that the modified approach significantly outperformed conventional dissolved air flotation across three common polymer types.

2020 Water Environment Research 90 citations
Article Tier 2

Investigation of Microplastics Behavior and Properties in Public Sewage Treatment Plant and Pre-treatment with Microbubbles

Korean researchers tracked microplastics through different stages of a public sewage treatment plant and tested microbubble pre-treatment to improve removal. Microplastic concentrations dropped from 719 particles per liter in raw sewage to 16 per liter after tertiary treatment, and microbubble aeration further enhanced early-stage removal.

2023 Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
Article Tier 2

Integrated Chitosan-based coagulation and microbubble pre-treatment for improved microplastic fibre removal from water

Researchers developed a combined chitosan-based coagulation and microbubble pre-treatment system for removing microplastic fibres from water, finding that this approach overcame the limitations of conventional inorganic coagulants and improved removal efficiency for the morphologically challenging fibre fraction.

2025 The Science of The Total Environment
Article Tier 2

Jet Drop Enrichment: A Low-Cost Method for Simultaneous PFAS and Microplastics Removal from Drinking Water

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and tiny microplastics are two of the hardest contaminants to remove from drinking water, and this study proposes a surprising solution: harnessing the micro-bubbles that naturally burst at a water surface, which fling surface-active pollutants into tiny airborne droplets that can be collected. The method achieved up to 99% removal of long-chain PFAS and fine microplastics simultaneously, and when combined with a resin pre-treatment step, also captured shorter-chain PFAS at over 90% efficiency. This bubble-based approach is low-energy, low-cost, and could complement existing water treatment infrastructure.

2026 ACS ES&T Engineering
Article Tier 2

The rise and rupture of bubbles: applications to biofouling, microplastic pollution, and sea spray aerosols

Researchers studied how rising air bubbles in water collect microplastics and bacteria on their surfaces and transport them to the liquid surface, and how bubble bursting then launches these particles into the air as sea spray — with implications for both aquatic contamination and airborne microplastic exposure.

2023 OpenBU (Boston University)
Article Tier 2

Nanomaterials for microplastics remediation in wastewater: A viable step towards cleaner water

This review examines how nanomaterials, tiny engineered particles with high surface area and reactivity, can be used to remove microplastics from water more effectively than traditional methods like filtration and sedimentation. While promising, these technologies face challenges including high production costs, potential toxicity of the nanomaterials themselves, and difficulty scaling up from lab to real-world applications. Improving these methods is important because current water treatment often fails to remove the smallest and most harmful microplastic particles.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanomaterials for microplastic remediation from aquatic environment: Why nano matters?

This review examines how nanomaterials such as photocatalysts, adsorbents, and membrane filters can be used to remove microplastics from aquatic environments, highlighting why nanoscale properties offer advantages over conventional remediation approaches.

2022 Chemosphere 113 citations
Article Tier 2

Hydrophobicity–water/air–based enrichment cell for microplastics analysis within environmental samples: A proof of concept

Researchers developed a new microplastic separation device that uses the hydrophobic properties of plastic particles combined with fine air bubbles to quickly and effectively extract microplastics from sediment and soil samples. The new method avoids harsh solvents that can degrade microplastic particles and offers a faster alternative to existing separation techniques.

2019 MethodsX 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Ultrasensitive SERS detection and efficient flotation removal of nanoplastics from water using bubble-spouting micromotor swarms

Researchers developed magnetic Ag/Co micromotors that spout microbubbles and used them to simultaneously detect nanoplastics via surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and remove them from large water volumes through bubble-assisted flotation, demonstrating a new integrated approach for nanoplastic remediation.

2025
Article Tier 2

Perspective Chapter: Role of Nanobubbles Technology in Wastewater Treatments

Not relevant to microplastics — this chapter reviews nanobubble technology for improving wastewater treatment processes such as flotation and biological reactors; microplastics are not addressed.

2026 IntechOpen eBooks
Article Tier 2

Nano-based remediation strategies for micro and nanoplastic pollution

This review covers how nanomaterial-based technologies can be used to remove microplastics from the environment, including methods using magnetic nanoparticles, photocatalysts, and membrane filters. While current physical, chemical, and biological removal methods each have limitations, nanomaterials can enhance their effectiveness by targeting smaller plastic particles that traditional methods miss. Better removal technologies could ultimately reduce human exposure to microplastics in drinking water and food.

2024 Journal of Contaminant Hydrology 12 citations