Investigation of the abundance and characteristics of microplastics in a municipal waste water treatment plant, Thailand | |
| Author | Umar, Hassan Olamilekan |
| Call Number | AIT RSPR no.MPA-21-47 |
| Subject(s) | Microplastics--Environmental aspects--Thailand Sewage disposal plants--Thailand Wastewater--Treatment |
| Note | A research study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Marine Plastics Abatement |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | The prominence of microplastics as an emerging pollutant of concern has made their studies in various environmental bodies a vital research concern to many researchers all over the world. WWTPs being a major sink and receiver of wastewater which contain microplastics from various sources have also been studied extensively to understand the fate of microplastics in and out of this system. Although, many studies have been carried out to determine the presence of microplastics in WWTPs while also investigating their physical properties, chemical characterization, removal efficiency and daily load; however, in this study, daily temporal variation of microplastics were compared between weekdays and weekends as an indicator of behavioral change in activities which may influence microplastics generation and abundance. Results from this study showed that the daily temporal variation of microplastics on weekdays are 2.84±0.86 particles/L (morning – 11:00), 2.28±0.66 particles/L (afternoon – 14:00) and 1.75±0.32 particles/L (evening – 17:00); while the abundance for weekends are 1.95±0.36 particles/L (morning – 11:00), 2.18±0.43 particles/L (afternoon – 14:00) and 1.76±0.59 particles/L (evening – 17:00). Analysis revealed the highest abundance of microplastics was generated on weekdays before 11:00 and the abundance gradually decreases as the day draws to an end at 17:00. On the other hand, microplastics generated on weekends have their highest abundance at 14:00, followed by 11:00 and then 17:00. The shapes of the observed microplastics contain 65% fibers/lines and the most identified polymer types were PP and PE (HDPE). The removal efficiency of the tertiary system was determined to be 80%, while the average daily load of microplastics in the influent was 3.00 x 108 particles/day for weekdays and 2.51 x 108 particles/day for weekends. Lastly, the material flow of microplastics in this WWTP was modelled to understand the fate of microplastics in a typical sewage plant. |
| Year | 2021 |
| Type | Research Study Project Report (RSPR) |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Marine Plastic Abatement (MPA) |
| Chairperson(s) | Xue, Wenchao |
| Examination Committee(s) | Thammarat Koottatep;Bora, Tanujjal |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Government of Japan |
| Degree | Research studies project report (M.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2021 |