Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Microplastics Removal from a Plastic Recycling Industrial Wastewater Using Sand Filtration

Researchers demonstrated that sand filtration can effectively remove microplastics from plastic recycling facility wastewater, with laboratory-scale tests showing significant reduction in microplastic concentrations across different polymer types, sizes, and shapes.

2023 Water 35 citations
Article Tier 2

Rapid Sand Filtration Technique for Remediation of Microplastics

Researchers tested rapid sand filtration as a technique for removing microplastics from water, evaluating particle removal efficiency across different plastic sizes, shapes, and filter media. The technique achieved meaningful microplastic reduction and was proposed as a practical water treatment enhancement.

2024 Microplastics 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Semi-crystalline microplastics in wastewater plant effluents and removal efficiencies of post-treatment filtration systems

Researchers measured microplastic mass concentrations in secondary effluents from four German wastewater treatment plants and found that post-treatment filtration systems, particularly sand filters and membrane bioreactors, substantially reduced the release of semi-crystalline microplastic particles into aquatic environments.

2022 Water Research X 35 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

Microplastics Removal from Treated Wastewater by a Biofilter

Researchers evaluated a pilot-scale biofilter for removing microplastics from secondary wastewater treatment effluent, finding it effectively polished treated wastewater before environmental discharge by capturing particles across multiple filter zones.

2020 Water 108 citations
Article Tier 2

Membrane bioreactor and rapid sand filtration for the removal of microplastics in an urban wastewater treatment plant

A wastewater treatment plant was monitored for 18 months to compare microplastic removal by membrane bioreactor technology versus rapid sand filtration, finding that membrane bioreactors achieved much higher removal efficiency but that both technologies still released microplastics into receiving waters.

2020 Marine Pollution Bulletin 303 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic retention in small and medium municipal wastewater treatment plants and the role of the disinfection

Researchers measured how effectively small and medium wastewater treatment plants removed microplastics at each treatment stage, including disinfection. Treatment plants removed over 95% of incoming microplastics, but the disinfection step (UV or chlorination) had minimal effect on particle removal. The bulk of microplastics that do pass through treatment are concentrated in sludge, which when spread on farmland returns microplastics to agricultural soils.

2021 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 23 citations
Article Tier 2

Unraveling microplastics removal in wastewater treatment plant: A comparative study of two wastewater treatment plants in Thailand

Researchers compared microplastic removal efficiency at two wastewater treatment plants in Bangkok, finding that a facility equipped with ultrafiltration as a final polishing step achieved substantially higher microplastic removal than conventional treatment alone.

2022 Chemosphere 36 citations
Article Tier 2

Feasibility of rapid gravity filtration and membrane ultrafiltration for the removal of microplastics and microlitter in sewage and wastewater from plastic industry

Rapid gravity filtration and membrane ultrafiltration were evaluated as tertiary treatment options for removing microplastics and microlitter from wastewater treatment plant effluent, finding both methods reduced particle concentrations significantly. The results support adding these polishing steps to existing plants to reduce microplastic emissions to the environment.

2022 Journal of Water Process Engineering 59 citations
Article Tier 2

Intermittent sand filtration for removal of microplastics from water: a laboratory-scale study

Researchers tested three laboratory-scale intermittent sand filters -- filled with silica sand, sand-coke mixtures, and coke -- for microplastic removal from both synthetic wastewater spiked with polypropylene microplastics and real secondary settler effluent, evaluating each substrate's efficiency in reducing microplastic concentrations prior to environmental discharge.

2022 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

An evaluation of microplastics fate in the wastewater treatment plants: frequency and removal of microplastics by microfiltration membrane

This study assessed microplastic removal efficiency at a wastewater treatment plant in Iran and tested microfiltration membrane performance, finding that the membrane significantly improved microplastic removal beyond conventional treatment steps.

2021 Water Practice & Technology 56 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2016 Water Research 1704 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

Enhanced removal of microplastics from wastewater treatment plants by a novel magnetic filter

This study developed a novel magnetic adsorption approach to enhance microplastic removal in wastewater treatment plant effluents, achieving high removal efficiency across a range of particle sizes and polymer types.

2024 Environmental Pollution 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Transport and retention of laundry microplastic fibres in slow sand filtration systems

Slow sand filtration — one of the most energy-efficient water treatment methods — was tested for its ability to remove laundry-derived microplastic fibers from washing machine effluent, with results showing 92–95% removal at the lowest flow rate tested. Fine sand filters slightly outperformed coarse sand, and the top layer of the filter did most of the work. Given that laundry wastewater is a major source of microplastic fiber pollution entering waterways, these results support slow sand filtration as a practical, low-cost add-on treatment to prevent fiber release.

2026 Scientific Reports
Article Tier 2

Contamination and Removal Efficiency of Microplastics and Synthetic Fibres in a Conventional Drinking Water Treatment Plant

Researchers found that a conventional drinking water treatment plant in Geneva removed the majority of microplastics from raw water, with coagulation and sand filtration contributing most to removal, though some particles persisted through to finished drinking water.

2022 Frontiers in Water 33 citations
Article Tier 2

Fate of Microplastic Pollution Along the Water and Sludge Lines in Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants

Researchers evaluated microplastic abundance and distribution across three municipal wastewater treatment plants using different treatment technologies. The study found that all three plants achieved greater than 97% microplastic removal along the water treatment line, with microplastics concentrating in the sludge fraction, underscoring the important role of sludge treatment in sequestering microplastics from wastewater.

2025 Microplastics 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Performance of intermittent sand and coke filters for the removal of size-ranged microplastics

Researchers tested sand and coke filters at a laboratory scale to remove microplastics from water and found that coke-based filters achieved up to 92.79% removal efficiency, outperforming sand alone. These low-cost filtration systems could be added to wastewater treatment plants to significantly reduce the number of microplastics reaching rivers and oceans.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances
Systematic Review Tier 1

Microplastic particles in the aquatic environment: A systematic review

Among treatment technologies for microplastic removal from water, membrane bioreactors achieved the highest efficiency (>99%), followed by activated sludge (~98%) and rapid sand filtration (~97%), while hybrid treatment approaches showed the best overall removal performance.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 238 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

Assessment of Microplastics in a Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant with Tertiary Treatment: Removal Efficiencies and Loading per Day into the Environment

This study assessed microplastic removal efficiencies at a Spanish wastewater treatment plant with tertiary treatment including oxidation ditch, rapid sand filtration, and UV disinfection, quantifying the daily microplastic loading remaining in effluent discharged to the environment.

2021 Water 48 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of different treatment processes in four municipal wastewater treatment plants on the transport and fate of microplastics

Researchers investigated microplastic transport and fate across four municipal wastewater treatment plants in southeastern China, finding that different treatment processes varied in their microplastic removal efficiency, with fibers and fragments as the dominant types.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 86 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

Comparative Long-Term Monitoring of Microplastics in the Effluent of Three Different Wastewater Treatment Plants with Two, Three, and Four Treatment Stages

Researchers conducted long-term comparative monitoring of microplastic concentrations in the effluents of three municipal wastewater treatment plants employing two-, three-, and four-stage treatment technologies, finding that an additional fourth stage using powdered activated carbon reduced MP discharge compared to conventional three-stage treatment.

2025 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)