Removal of microplastics from secondary wastewater treatment plant effluent by coagulation/flocculation with iron, aluminum and polyamine-based chemicals.

Microplastic (MP) removal by coagulation/flocculation followed by settling was studied in a secondary wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent matrix. MP concentration in size range <10 µm in wastewater is currently unknown due to the exclusion of this size range in many studies and due to difficulties in MP quantification. WWTP effluent samples were spiked with a known amount of polystyrene spheres of two different sizes 1 µm and 6.3 µm. The samples were treated with inorganic and organic coagulants typically used in WWTPs, i.e., ferric chloride, polyaluminum chloride, and polyamine. The effect of pH was studied with ferric chloride by changing the pH from 7.3 to 6.5. In this study, MP removal was monitored using flow cytometry. The role of chemicals in MP removal at WWTPs has not been in the focus of previously reported MP studies. Our results showed that all tested coagulants enhanced the removal of MPs with dosages applicable to tertiary treatment. The highest removal efficiency obtained was 99.4%, and ferric chloride and polyaluminum chloride were more efficient than polyamine. Performances of ferric chloride and polyaluminum chloride were close to each other, with a statistically significant difference at a certain dosage range. Our findings suggest that chemical coagulation plays a key role in the removal of MPs, and the process can be optimized by selecting the right coagulant and pH.

Effective factors in the treatment of kerosene-water emulsion by using UF membranes.

The effects of different parameters including membrane type (regenerated cellulose and polysulphone), transmembrane pressure (TMP), the content of oil in the feed, the flow velocity of the feed and pH on the ultrafiltration of an emulsion of kerosene in water were studied. It was found that the important factors affecting ultrafiltration were, in order, membrane type, pressure and oil concentration. The greatest flux at the optimum conditions here of 3 bar, an oil content of 3% (v/v) and with membrane type C30F was predicted as 108 L/(m(2)h) that was within the range of the confidence limit of the measured value of 106 L/(m(2)h). The normalised FTIR results of the virgin cellulosic membranes C30F and C100F showed more abundant OH groups. The bigger number of OH groups implies a greater hydrophilicity. The larger observed flux in the C30F is related to a higher number of pores as well (surface porosity) compared with the C100F membrane. In the "polarised regime" from 3 bar upwards, flux was independent of pressure for all membranes and was assumed to be determined by the back diffusion transport. Despite the fact that both the PS100H and C100F membranes had the same cut-off (100 kg/mol), the hydrophilic C100F showed a superior permeate flux. The strongest drop of flux with time due to oil fouling was observed for the C100F although it was hydrophilic. In the case of the PS100H, both FTIR and SEM showed that cake layer formation was not the cause of fouling. Meanwhile the SEM and FTIR results of fouled C100F provided evidence of adsorptive and gel formation fouling.