Microplastics and wastewater, development of an effective tool in water treatment

Microplastics in wastewater represent an urgent problem of incomplete water purification management. The protection of the environment and human health are issues that in a One Health perspective will allow in a short time to put legal limitations on this pollutant. The size of these emerging pollutants still causes analysis and management problems, but thanks to a sensitive and innovative method applied to the “ACQUAPLANET” project, a new technological system will be validated for reducing the releases of these particles from the treated wastewater on environment. Together with Plastica Alfa srl, an Italian company that has been operating for over thirty years in the field of plastics is being created the development of a prototype aimed at the purification of water from microplastics. A review of the recent literature will be carried out which highlighted the presence of new technologies applied for the pursuit of the same objective. The extraction of microplastics for the validation of the effectiveness of the Italian prototype will take place by applying an innovative technique patented by the University of Catania (Italian Patent No. 102018000003337 - March 7, 2018, also presented for the release of the International Patent PCT / IB2019 / 051838), which allows us to extract MPs and NPs from wastewater with LOD of 0.1 microns coupled to quantitative determination by scanning electron microscope (SEM) with EDX detector. Size and quantity will be monitored in the sampled wastewater in different wastewater treatment plants and in different seasons. The review showed the use of new technologies used for the development of the filter, but severe limitations regarding the volumes of water to be treated. The waste water has been characterized and analyzes are still underway, to determine the starting point of the pretreatment phase with the new prototype and the first data obtained are reported. The MP <10 μm in the input samples have a concentration of 2x102 and at the output of 1x102 whose average diameter is 4.25 μm. This data is of considerable importance as it is a first data for the future literature on pre- and post- purification wastewater on particles with dimensions that can be absorbed by biological systems. According on the results of the review, we are selecting and optimizing the prototype for final validation. Our results will allow the development of new research applied also in the engineering field to stem the problem of contamination by MPs of surface waters (fresh and marine) and of soils for the disposal of treated sewage, pollution that currently causes a continuous degradation of the environment.