Abstract
The amount of the plastic waste has been increasing according to global demand for plastic. Microplastics are the most hazardous among all plastic pollutants due to their toxicity and unknown physicochemical properties. This study investigates the optimal methodology that can be applied to sewage samples for detecting microplastics before discussing reducing microplastics in MWTPs. In this study, the effect of different pretreatment methods while detecting microplastic analysis of MWTP influent samples was investigated; the samples were collected from the J sewage treatment plant.
There are many pretreatment methods but two of them are widely used: Fenton digestion and hydrogen peroxide oxidation. Although there are many pretreatment methods that can be applied to investigate microplastics, the most widely used methods for sewage treatment plant samples are Fenton digestion and H2O2 oxidation. For each pretreatment method, there were factors that could cause an error in the measurement. To overcome this, in the case of the Fenton digestion pretreatment, it is recommended to proceed with the analysis by filtration instead of the density separation method. In the case of the H2O2 oxidation method, the process of washing with distilled water after the reaction is recommended. As a result of the analysis, the concentration of microplastics was measured to be 2.75ea/L for the sample using the H2O2 oxidation method and 3.2ea/L for the sample using the Fenton oxidation method, and most of them were present in the form of fibers. In addition, it is difficult to guarantee the reliability of measurement results from quantitative analysis performed via microscope with eyes. A calibration curve was created for prove the reliability.
A total of three calibration curves were drawn, and as a result of analysis of the calibration curves, all R2 values were more than 0.9. This ensures high reliability for quantitative analysis. The qualitative analysis could determine the series of microplastics flowing into the MWTP, but could not confirm the chemical composition of each microplastic.
This study can be used to confirm the chemical composition of microplastics introduced into MWTP in the future research.
There are many pretreatment methods but two of them are widely used: Fenton digestion and hydrogen peroxide oxidation. Although there are many pretreatment methods that can be applied to investigate microplastics, the most widely used methods for sewage treatment plant samples are Fenton digestion and H2O2 oxidation. For each pretreatment method, there were factors that could cause an error in the measurement. To overcome this, in the case of the Fenton digestion pretreatment, it is recommended to proceed with the analysis by filtration instead of the density separation method. In the case of the H2O2 oxidation method, the process of washing with distilled water after the reaction is recommended. As a result of the analysis, the concentration of microplastics was measured to be 2.75ea/L for the sample using the H2O2 oxidation method and 3.2ea/L for the sample using the Fenton oxidation method, and most of them were present in the form of fibers. In addition, it is difficult to guarantee the reliability of measurement results from quantitative analysis performed via microscope with eyes. A calibration curve was created for prove the reliability.
A total of three calibration curves were drawn, and as a result of analysis of the calibration curves, all R2 values were more than 0.9. This ensures high reliability for quantitative analysis. The qualitative analysis could determine the series of microplastics flowing into the MWTP, but could not confirm the chemical composition of each microplastic.
This study can be used to confirm the chemical composition of microplastics introduced into MWTP in the future research.
| Translated title of the contribution | Evaluation of microplastic in the inflow of municipal wastewater treatment plant according to pretreatment methods |
|---|---|
| Original language | Korean |
| Pages (from-to) | 83-92 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | 한국습지학회지 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 2022 |