06/10/2020
Investigations on the influence of short-term microplastics exposure on soluble micropollutants in municipal wastewater treatment plants
Michael Sturm, Dennis Schober, Dr. Katrin Schuhen , Wasser 3.0
The water entering sewage treatment plants increasingly poses challenges for operators. More and more often, there is a growing amount of microplastic in rainwater and wastewater for example due to fibers in synthetic clothing such as fleece jackets, tire abrasion or due to the input from industrial processes.
The influences and effects of microplastic particles on the environment and humans have not yet been fully scientif-ically investigated. In a concept for re-moving microplastic particles from water presented in 2016, Herbort and Schuhen describe a new, adaptive and at the same time modular approach (agglomeration fixation process, AFP).
During the pilot trials in a municipal wastewater treatment plant in Germany, an additional spiking with microplastic particles was used to test the process on large scale. In addition, the influence of this short-term microplastic exposure on dissolved micropollutants in munici-pal wastewater treatment plants was investigated. The results are presented in this publication.