Investigation of the method of detection and separation of microplastics in wastewater treatment plants based on creating a density difference and determining the share of the treatment process in particle removal

Today, plastics have a special place among the various issues that are considered as sources of pollution. Most of these plastics are in the dimensions of Micro and Nano. One of the most important sources of Microplastics transfer is wastewater treatment plants, where a large amount of these particles, which are not removed in the treatment process, enter the receiving environment. The purpose of this study is to first determine the optimal method of identifying and extracting particles from wastewater for counting and then to investigate the amount of removal and also to determine the amount of particles leaving the treatment plant.Sampling of inlet and outlet of wastewater treatment plant located in Mazandaran province was done seasonally in three seasons of spring, summer and autumn to determine in which season of the year, the amount of microplastics in wastewater increases or decreases. Also, the extraction and identification method is based on acid washing operation and based on creating a density difference, which has resulted in a favorable result with optimization and innovation.Using this method, the amount of Microparticles and microfibers along with the size and shape of the particle was determined and it was determined to what extent the normal treatment process is able to separate Microplastics from wastewater. The treatment plant can remove an average of 95% of the particles, which means that the remaining 5% of the particles are removed with the effluent and enter the aqueous environment.Finally, it was found that the determined laboratory method can identify and extract Microplastics in very small sizes to a very desirable extent. Also, determining the appropriate parameters of liquid volume, salt consumption and the use of dual capacity iron increased the efficiency compared to other methods and led to the identification of smaller particles than previous research.