Adsorption Potential of Trace Organic Contaminants on Microplastics in the Penn State Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluent
Open Access
- Author:
- Dumm, Courtney
- Area of Honors:
- Environmental Engineering
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Rachel Brennan, Thesis Supervisor
John Michael Regan, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- microplastics
microplastic
adsorption
wastewater treatment
trace organic contaminants - Abstract:
- Over the last century plastics have become ubiquitous in global industry, and microplastics have become pervasive in global waste streams. Personal care products containing plastic microbeads and synthetic fibers like polyester are major sources of microplastics in municipal wastewater streams. In recent years there has been mounting concern about the ramifications of this accumulation. Microplastics are hydrophobic, hence they provide an excellent vehicle for contaminant sorption and subsequent contaminant transport. Due to their tiny size, microplastics are also easily ingested by aquatic organisms which means those organisms are not only ingesting inherently harmful plastic, but likely contaminants as well. There is, however, limited research about the fate and transport of microplastics in and following discharge from wastewater treatment plants. The overall objective of this thesis is to investigate the quantities and polymer types of microplastics in the Penn State Wastewater Treatment Plant (PSU WWTP) effluent, as well as potential contaminant adsorption onto those microplastics. Microplastics were collected from the end of the chlorine contact tank, the final treatment step, at the PSU WWTP using a 150 micron simple plankton net. The samples were processed via wet peroxide oxidation, density separation, and vacuum filtration to isolate the microplastics and other synthetic particles from any organic material in the samples. The presence of polyethylene was confirmed in the WWTP effluent through Fourier-Transform-Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy analysis using a germanium Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR) crystal, and supplemental data was used to estimate the potential adsorption of emerging contaminants present in the PSU WWTP onto polyethylene, polystyrene, and polyamide.