Connecting Waterpeople

You are here

Most microplastics in wastewater can be removed: study

  • Most microplastics in wastewater can be removed: study

About the entity

Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences is the linchpin of China's drive to explore and harness high technology and the natural sciences for the benefit of China and the world.

Chinese researchers have discovered that more than 60 percent of microplastics can be removed from wastewater, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

The researchers from the CAS Wuhan Botanical Garden researched the removal of microplastics in a sewage treatment plant at Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province.

They found that 64.4 percent of microplastics in wastewater can be disposed of, and the removed microplastics were mostly transferred to and stored in sludge. This study was published in the Chemical Engineering Journal.

Fiber and fragments were the main microplastics particles found at wastewater sampling sites.

The percentage of larger microplastics in the effluent wastewater was reduced compared to that in the influent wastewater due to decomposition during the flow of wastewater and sedimentation becoming sludge.

Polyamide, or nylon, was found to be the main plastic component in wastewater at 54.8 percent, indicating that the microplastic particles may primarily originate from the wastewater discharged by washing clothes and polymer manufacturing and processing industries.

The deepest part of the world's ocean and its hadal bottom waters have been polluted by microplastics, according to previous reports.

Microplastics with a diameter smaller than five millimeters have severely influenced aquatic organisms.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Topics of interest

The data provided will be treated by iAgua Conocimiento, SL for the purpose of sending emails with updated information and occasionally on products and / or services of interest. For this we need you to check the following box to grant your consent. Remember that at any time you can exercise your rights of access, rectification and elimination of this data. You can consult all the additional and detailed information about Data Protection.

Featured news