The DOI matches its Crossref record; 43 of the 43 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Understanding and Improving Microplastic Removal during Water Treatment: Impact of Coagulation and Flocculation
Open accessAbstract
The efficacy of plastic particle removal by municipal water treatment plants is currently uncertain, and the mechanisms involved in microplastic (MP) coagulation and flocculation have only been superficially investigated. The removal of pristine versus weathered plastic debris and the impact of plastic particle size on removal remain largely unexplored. In this study, coagulation, flocculation, and settling performances were investigated using pristine and weathered MPs (polyethylene (PE) and polystyrene (PS) microspheres, and polyester (PEST) fibers). Weathering processes that changed the surface chemistry and roughness of MPs impacted MP affinity for coagulants and flocculants. A quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring was used to identify the mechanisms involved during MP coagulation and flocculation. Measured deposition rates confirmed the relatively low affinity between plastic surfaces and aluminum-based coagulants compared to cationic polyacrylamide (PAM). In every case examined, coagulant efficiency increased when the plastic surface was weathered. Removals of 97 and 99% were measured for PEST and weathered PE, respectively. Larger pristine PE MPs were the most resistant to coagulation and flocculation, with 82% removal observed even under enhanced coagulation conditions. By understanding the interaction mechanisms, the removal of weathered MPs was optimized. Finally, this study explored the use of settled water turbidity as a possible indicator of MP removal.
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Cites
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Self-citationMicroplastics in Freshwaters and Drinking Water: Critical Review and Assessment of Data Quality
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Cited by
Liu, W., Zhang, J., Liu, H., Guo, X., Zhang, X., Yao, X., Cao, Z., & Zhang, T. (2021) · Environment International · doi:10.1016/j.envint.2020.106277 · Cited by 688
Critical review of microplastics removal from the environment
Ahmed, R., Hamid, A. K., Krebsbach, S. A., He, J., & Wang, D. (2022) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.133557 · Cited by 281
Microplastics in drinking water? Present state of knowledge and open questions
Oßmann, B. E. (2021) · Current Opinion in Food Science · doi:10.1016/j.cofs.2021.02.011 · Cited by 95
Metadata
- Authors
- Lapointe, M., Farner, J. M., Hernandez, L. M., & Tufenkji, N.
- Venue
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2020-06-16
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 14
- Pages
- 8719-8727
- ISSN
- 0013-936X (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5851
- OpenAlex
- W3034876135
- Cited by
- 470
- References
- 43
- FWCI
- 11.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
