Occurrence and Removal of Microplastic in Sewage Treatment Facilities in Chungcheongbuk-do

Abstract

Microplastics from sewage and wastewater treatment facilities can be discharged into rivers and oceans, and the treatment facilities themselves can be a point source of microplastic pollution. The microplastic detection status and methods were compared in Miwon, Cheongju, Jecheon, and Chungju sewage treatment facilities in Chungcheongbuk-do. Samples were collected from the inlet, filtration facility, and discharge of Miwon Sewage Treatment Facility, a Porous Substrate Bioreactor (PSBR) construction corporation. Additionally, the inlet, first settling tank, final settling tank and outlet samples were taken from three sewage treatment facilities (Cheongju, Jecheon, and Chungju), which use bioreactor transformation processes. In the results, raw water showed a range of 232-1,510 pieces/L, and effluent water showed a range of 0.7-6.7 pieces/L. All four sewage treatment facilities showed high treatment efficiency of 98.5-99.9%. The treatment processes showed high removal efficiency in the order of CNR (97.0%) > PSBR (95.9%) > NPR (91.5%) > SMART3 (70.3%). As a study was conducted on only one sewage treatment facility for each process, additional research is necessary.