Papers

61,005 results
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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

High-efficiency and chemical-free microplastic recovery from laundry effluent using parallel and series acoustic focusing systems

This study developed a compact acoustic focusing system — roughly half the size of a sheet of paper — capable of separating microplastic fibers from laundry wastewater at 100 milliliters per minute with over 90% recovery efficiency and no chemicals required. The device uses sound waves to push plastic particles to the center of flow channels, concentrating them for removal without filters, coagulants, or surfactants. This chemical-free approach could be scaled for household washing machines or industrial laundries, potentially cutting a major source of aquatic microplastic pollution at the source.

2025 Chemical Engineering Journal 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Experimental Investigation of the Influence of High-Frequency Standing Sound Waves on Depth Filtration Using Coarse-Pored Media

This study investigated using high-frequency sound waves to improve depth filtration of fine particles from suspensions. Acoustic filtration enhancement could potentially be applied to improve microplastic removal in water treatment, where current filtration methods sometimes struggle with the smallest plastic particles.

2023 Preprints.org
Article Tier 2

Acoustofluidics for Micro and Nanoplastics Enrichment towards Environmental and Drinking Water Monitoring : A Story of Sound and Soul

This review examines acoustofluidic technology -- which uses sound waves to manipulate particles -- as an approach for concentrating micro- and nanoplastics from environmental and drinking water samples for monitoring purposes. The authors argue that acoustofluidics offers a promising, non-invasive platform for microplastic enrichment prior to analysis.

2024 KTH Publication Database DiVA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)
Article Tier 2

Remediation of Pollutants using Ultrasound Induced Cavitation: “Nanostars in a Jar”

This study investigates ultrasound-induced cavitation as an advanced method for removing emerging contaminants — including microplastics, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides — from wastewater that conventional treatment plants cannot fully address. The technique shows promise as a complement to existing water treatment technologies.

2023
Article Tier 2

Microfiber Acoustic Recycling with Enzyme-Assisted Valorization and Elimination (MARVEL): A Novel Approach for Microplastic Isolation from WWT Sludge

Researchers developed MARVEL (Microfiber Acoustic Recycling with Enzyme-Assisted Valorization and Elimination), a novel approach combining acoustic methods and enzymatic treatment for isolating and valorizing microplastic microfibers from wastewater treatment sludge.

2025
Article Tier 2

EchoTilt: An Acoustofluidic Method for the Capture and Enrichment of Nanoplastics Directed Toward Drinking Water Monitoring

Researchers developed an acoustofluidic method called EchoTilt for capturing and enriching nanoplastics from water samples at high flow rates. The technique uses sound waves to trap particles as small as 25 nanometers in silica cluster grids, achieving a breakthrough in nanoplastic detection capability. The study demonstrates a promising approach for monitoring nanoplastic contamination in drinking water.

2024 Micromachines 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Evaluation of the Presence of Microplastics in Wastewater Treatment Plants: Development and Verification of Strategies for Their Quantification and Removal in Aqueous Streams

Researchers evaluated microplastic presence in wastewater treatment plants and developed a pilot capture system capable of detecting, quantifying, and removing microplastic particles from water. The study found that conventional treatment processes are insufficient for complete microplastic removal, highlighting the need for dedicated technologies to address this gap in water treatment infrastructure.

2025 Sustainability 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Development and evaluation of a water treatment system for the removal of microplastics in an aqueous medium.

Researchers developed and evaluated a water treatment system for removing microplastics from aqueous media, addressing the urgent environmental concern of microplastic contamination in rivers, seas, and oceans and assessing the system's effectiveness as a promising water purification technology.

2025 LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas)
Article Tier 2

Separation of Microplastics from Blood Samples Using Traveling Surface Acoustic Waves

Researchers developed a microfluidic device that uses sound waves to separate microplastic particles from human blood samples. The device successfully isolated polystyrene microplastics of different sizes from blood cells, with separation efficiency influenced by power levels and flow rate. This technology could enable more accurate measurement of microplastics circulating in human blood, which is important for understanding their potential health effects.

2024 Microplastics 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Study of increasing the flow rate of acoustic separation in a circular tube for microplastics collection

Researchers investigated acoustic separation as a method to collect microplastics smaller than 300 micrometers from water inside circular tubes, finding that increasing flow rates is feasible to improve collection efficiency.

2023 The Proceedings of Mechanical Engineering Congress Japan
Article Tier 2

Innovating Ferro-sonication approach for extracting microplastics from wastewater

Researchers developed a ferro-sonication approach for extracting microplastics from wastewater, combining magnetic separation with ultrasonic treatment to achieve high-efficiency particle recovery from complex effluent matrices.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 6 citations
Article Tier 2

A selective separation method for microplastics using ultrasonic jet atomization

Researchers developed a selective microplastic separation method using ultrasonic jet atomization, demonstrating that a diaphragm-based system can enclose microplastics in water into atomized mist and emit them into the air, with particle separation correlated to acoustic energy.

2024 Japanese Journal of Applied Physics
Article Tier 2

Microfiber Acoustic Recycling with Enzyme-Assisted Valorization and Elimination (MARVEL)

Researchers developed MARVEL, a two-stage system combining acoustic separation and enzyme-assisted degradation to remove and degrade microfiber plastics from wastewater treatment sludge. The system achieved high microfiber removal efficiency and enzymatic breakdown of isolated fibers, offering a promising approach to preventing sludge-derived MP re-entry into ecosystems.

2025
Article Tier 2

A Novel Application of Filtration for the Collection of Microplastics in Waterways

Researchers developed a novel filtration system for collecting microplastics from waterways, demonstrating its effectiveness as a scalable and practical tool for environmental monitoring and plastic pollution assessment.

2024 Research Square (Research Square)
Article Tier 2

EchoGrid: High-Throughput Acoustic Trapping for Enrichment of Environmental Microplastics

Engineers developed the EchoGrid, a device that uses sound waves to capture and concentrate microplastics from large water samples for easier detection. The device can process drinking water and environmental samples much faster than existing methods, which is important because microplastics are often present at low concentrations that require large sample volumes to detect. Better detection tools like this are essential for understanding how much microplastic contamination exists in the water people drink.

2024 Analytical Chemistry 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Fundamental Study of the Removal of Microplastic Fibers Using Swirling Flow and Magnetic Field

Researchers developed a method combining swirling water flow and a magnetic field to remove microplastic fibers from laundry wastewater. The approach was effective at capturing fiber-shaped microplastics that typically pass through conventional sewage treatment, helping prevent them from entering waterways.

2023 Journal of Physics Conference Series 1 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

Towards a More Sustainable Water Treatment: Design of a Hydrodynamic Test Rig and Testing of a Novel Microplastic Filter Using Biomimetics

Researchers designed a hydrodynamic test rig and a novel biomimetic microplastic filter inspired by aquatic filter-feeding organisms, aiming to improve solid-liquid separation in water treatment. The study demonstrates how biological filtration strategies can inform more sustainable industrial microplastic removal approaches.

2024 Sustainability
Article Tier 2

Recent Developments in the Application of Ultrasonication in Pre-Treatment of Municipal Sewage Sludge

Not relevant to microplastics — this paper reviews ultrasonication as a pre-treatment method for municipal sewage sludge to improve anaerobic digestion efficiency, with no focus on plastic contamination.

2023 Journal of Ecological Engineering 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Review: Impact of microfluidic cell and particle separation techniques on microplastic removal strategies

Researchers reviewed how microfluidic technology — the same miniaturized tools used in medical diagnostics to sort cells — could be adapted to separate and recover microplastics from water, offering a more precise and scalable alternative to conventional filtration methods used in wastewater treatment.

2024 Journal of Agriculture and Food Research 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Effect of ultrasonication conditions on polyethylene microplastics sourced from landfills: A precursor study to establish guidelines for their extraction from environmental matrices

Researchers established optimal ultrasonication conditions for extracting polyethylene microplastics from landfill samples, finding that specific frequency and duration parameters significantly affect extraction efficiency and particle integrity.

2023 Journal of Hazardous Materials 13 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

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