Microplastics identification in wastewater treatment plants from Klang Valley (Malaysia)

TING, LI FUNG (2020) Microplastics identification in wastewater treatment plants from Klang Valley (Malaysia). [Project Paper] (Submitted)

Text FPSK42020 2.pdf Download (2MB)

Abstract

Introduction: Microplastics are synthetic polymer particles less than five millimetre (5mm). Previous studies suggested wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) as one of the possible sources of microplastics found in environment. Objective: Therefore, this study has attempted to identify microplastics occurrence in six WWTPs from Klang Valley, as well as to review characteristics of WWTP-found microplastics and the methodology used based on available literature. Methodology: In this study, wastewater samples were taken from each treatment stage of WWTPs. These WWTP samples were analyzed for microplastics via filtration method. Result: It was found that for all the WWTPs studied, the highest mass of undigested particles was obtained in the aeration tank, ranging from 34 mg/L to 300 mg/L. Meanwhile, review of studies showed that the mass of microplastics in WWTP ranged from 13.45 ng/L to 5.6 mg/L in influent and 13.52 ng/L to 0.168 mg/L in effluent while the number of microplastics ranged from 1.5 particle/L to 7216 particle/L in influent and 0.008 particle/L to 54 particles/L in effluent. The huge variation between studies could be due to the difference in sampling, extraction and characterisation method as well as the differences between WWTPs studied. Conclusion: Findings from current and past studies have showed that microplastics are unable to filtered effectively and treated wastewater effluents are another key source of microplastics in aquatic and terresrial environments. Keywords: Microplastics, occurrence, wastewater treatment plant.

Item Type:	Project Paper
Faculty:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Science
Depositing User:	Mr Hafizzuddin Hamidon
Date Deposited:	21 Feb 2023 03:13
Last Modified:	21 Feb 2023 03:13
URI:	http://psaspb.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/759

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