Microplastics in Sewage Sludge: Effects of Treatment.

By A. M. Mahon, B. O'Connell, M. Healy, I. O’Connor, R. Officer, R. Nash, L. Morrison. Environmental Science and Technology, 2017

841 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) are receptors for the cumulative loading of microplastics (MPs) derived from industry, landfill, domestic wastewater and stormwater. The partitioning of MPs through the settlement processes of wastewater treatment results in the majority becoming entrained in the sewage sludge. This study characterized MPs in sludge samples from seven WWTPs in Ireland which use anaerobic digestion (AD), thermal drying (TD), or lime stabilization (LS) treatment processes. Abundances ranged from 4196 to 15 385 particles kg-1 (dry weight). Results of a general linear mixed model (GLMM) showed significantly higher abundances of MPs in smaller size classes in the LS samples, suggesting that the treatment process of LS shears MP particles. In contrast, lower abundances of MPs found in the AD samples suggests that this process may reduce MP abundances. Surface morphologies examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed characteristics of melting and blistering of TD MPs and shredding and flaking of LS MPs. This study highlights the potential for sewage sludge treatment processes to affect the risk of MP pollution prior to land spreading and may have implications for legislation governing the application of biosolids to agricultural land.

Subfields: Biomaterials, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Pollution

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/54f3bfd88c7180fce16756a332127c452feca17d

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Citations in the corpus

Bioavailability and effects of microplastics on marine zooplankton: A review. (2019, background): “Those microplastics that are trapped in sewage sludge at treatment works are then often spread as fertiliser on agricultural land (Mahon et al., 2016).”
Microplastics as an emerging threat to terrestrial ecosystems (2018, background): “…concentration are highlighted with red-filled spheres (industrial zones (Lechner & Ramler, 2015), atmosphere (Dris et al., 2016), sewage (Mahon et al., 2017; Mason et al., 2016), agricultural soils (Huerta Lwanga et al., 2017; Nizzetto, Futter, et al., 2016), freshwater beaches (Ballent…”
Macro- and micro- plastics in soil-plant system: Effects of plastic mulch film residues on wheat (Triticum aestivum) growth. (2018, background): “Although soil, especially agricultural land, has become a major sink for microplastics (Browne et al., 2011; Mahon et al., 2017; Nizzetto et al., 2016a; Nizzetto et al., 2016b; Rillig, 2012; Zubris and Richards, 2005), most of the research done so far has been focused on microplastics in the aquatic”
Occurrence, identification and removal of microplastic particles and fibers in conventional activated sludge process and advanced MBR technology. (2018, background): “, 2012), the special case of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), as a route of microplastics, have started to gain more attention only during recent years (Carr et al., 2016; Dris et al., 2015; Magnusson and Nor en, 2014; Mahon et al., 2017; Mason et al., 2016; Michielssen et al., 2016; Mintenig et ”