Environ Health Toxicol.  2018 Sep;33(3):e2018013. 10.5620/eht.e2018013.

Occurrence of microplastics in municipal sewage treatment plants: a review

Affiliations
  • 1Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea. junghwankwon@korea.ac.kr
  • 2O-Jeong Eco-Resilience Institute, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea.
  • 3National Institute of Environmental Research, Environmental Research Complex, Hwangyeong-ro 42, Seo-gu, Incheon 22689, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

Municipal sewage treatment plants (STPs) are thought to be important point sources of microplastics in freshwater systems and many peer-reviewed articles have been published on this issue since mid-2010s. In this review, we summarize existing literature on the occurrence of microplastics in STPs and experimental methods used for isolation and identification of microplastics. The number concentrations of microplastics in STP influents were 15.1-640 L⁻¹, whereas those in the STP effluents were highly variable and ranged from not detectable to 65 L⁻¹. For most of cases, conventional STPs are removing microplastics very effectively. Fragments and fibers are dominant shapes of microplastics. Thermoplastics (polyethylene and polypropylene) and polyester are the predominant materials recovered. Although further research is needed, size distribution of microplastics in STPs is likely to follow a power law, implying that different studies using different size cutoffs may be compared after establishing a power law relationship.

Keyword

microplastic identification; sewage treatment plants (STPs); material type; shape; size distribution

MeSH Terms

Fresh Water
Jurisprudence
Polyesters
Sewage*
Polyesters
Sewage
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