Table 4.
MPs removal in drinking water treatment plants.
| Removal technology | Water source | Types of MPs | Removal efficiency | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alum-based CFS | Grand River water (Ontario, Canada) and Lake Erie water (provided by the Lake Huron and Elgin Area Water Systems) | Fluoresbrite yellow-green (YG) carboxylated PS microspheres (3, 6, 25, 45, and 90 μm) | Approximately 60–100% | [73] |
| Alum coagulation | Tap water, ultrapure water | a) PE; b) rayon; c) polyester; d) Fluorescent red microspheres (1–5 μm diameter) | N/A | [74] |
| Ferric and aluminium Sulphate coagulation | Model MP-containing water (10 mg L−1 of PVC−MPs; alkalinity of 1 mmol L−1) | Pristine PVC−MPs (chlorine content of 57%, <50 μm) | Ferric sulphate: approximately 80% | [75] |
| aluminium sulphate: not exceeded approximately 80% | ||||
| Fe-based coagulants (PAM) coagulation | PE solution | PE (<0.5 mm, 0.5 < d < 1 mm, 1 < d < 2 mm, 2 < d < 5 mm) | PE (d < 0.5 mm) without PAM: 13.27 ± 2.19% | [76] |
| 89.23 ± 3.22%, 87.66 ± 1.89%, 85.21 ± 2.12%, 89.32 ± 3.96%, and 90.91 ± 1.01% with 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 mg L−1 anionic PAM, respectively | ||||
| Coagulation/sedimentation | Han River in Yangpyeong, Korea | PS microbeads with four different sizes (10, 20, 45, and 90 μm) and amidine PS microbeads (1 μm diameter) | 20, 45, and 90 μm MPs: 77.4–95.3%; 10 μm MPs: 33.0–41.1% | [77] |
| Sand filtration | 45 and 90 μm MPs: 100%; 10 μm MPs: 83.4%; 20 μm MPs: 98.8%; |
|||
| UV-based oxidation | N/A | |||
| Aeration, pre-sedimentation, coagulation, flocculation-sedimentation, filtration, disinfection | Surabaya River | MPs are separated from the raw water | The total MPs removal efficiencies in Sub-DWTPs I and II were 54 and 76%, respectively. | [78] |
| Coagulants and flocculants | Prairies River (Laval, Canada) | PE microspheres (10–20, 125–150 μm); PS microspheres (130–150 μm); PEST fibers (width: 12–16 μm, length: 105–1325 μm) | PE microspheres: 82%; PEST fibers: 99%; PS microspheres: 84% |
[79] |
| CFS | Lake Huron and the Great Lakes tributary | PE: 10–20 μm, 45–53 μm, and 106–125 μm; PS: 180 nm and 1.2 μm | 1 μm: < 0.1% | [80] |
| 10–20 μm: 1.8 ± 1.2% | ||||
| 45–53 μm: 0.3 ± 0.3% | ||||
| 106–125 μm: 1.4 ± 1.2% | ||||
| Granular filtration | 180 nm: 98.9 ± 0.7% | |||
| 1 μm: 94.9 ± 0.4% | ||||
| 10–20 μm: 86.9 ± 4.9% | ||||
| 45–54 μm: 97.0 ± 3.0% | ||||
| 106–125 μm: 99.9 ± 0.1% | ||||
| Sand filtration | Llobregat river (NE Spain) | MPs are separated from the raw water | 78 ± 9% | [70] |
| GAC filtration | 18 ± 46% | |||
| Reverse osmosis | 54 ± 27% | |||
| Finished water | Overall removal efficiency of 93 ± 5% | |||
| Pre-disinfection | Ganga river | MPs are separated from the raw water | 2.0% | [81] |
| Flocculation | 2.4% | |||
| Pulse clarification | 63% | |||
| Sand filtration | 85% | |||
| Finished water | 84.6% |