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Microplastics in water: types, detection, and removal strategies

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Abstract

Microplastics are one of the most concerning groups of contaminants that pollute most of the surroundings of the Earth. The abundance of plastic materials available in the environment moved the scientific community in defining a new historical era known as Plasticene. Regardless of their minuscule size, microplastics have posed severe threats to the life forms like animals, plants, and other species present in the ecosystem. Ingestion of microplastics could lead to harmful health effects like teratogenic and mutagenic abnormalities. The source of microplastics could be either primary or secondary in which the components of microplastics are directly released into the atmosphere and the breakdown of larger units to generate the smaller molecules. Though numerous physical and chemical techniques are reported for the removal of microplastics, their increased cost prevents the large-scale applicability of the process. Coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, and ultrafiltration are some of the methods used for the removal of microplastics. Certain species of microalgae are known to remove microplastics by their inherent nature. One of the biological treatment strategies for microplastic removal is the activated sludge strategy that is used for the separation of microplastic. The overall microplastic removal efficiency is significantly high compared to conventional techniques. Thus, the reported biological avenues like the bio-flocculant for microplastic removal are discussed in this review article.

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Funding

Ms. Shalini Mohan acknowledge the DBT-JRF (DBT/2022-23/KARE/2059).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biomaterials and Product Development Lab, Department of Biotechnology, Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education, Krishnankoil, Srivilliputhur, Tamil Nadu, 626126, India

    Lakshmanan Muthulakshmi & Shalini Mohan

  2. Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, ul. Gronostajowa 2, Kraków, 30-387, Poland

    Tetiana Tatarchuk

  3. Educational and Scientific Center of Materials Science and Nanotechnology, Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Ivano-Frankivsk, 76018, Ukraine

    Tetiana Tatarchuk

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  1. Lakshmanan Muthulakshmi
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  2. Shalini Mohan
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  3. Tetiana Tatarchuk
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Lakshmanan Muthulakshmi, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. Lakshmanan Muthulakshmi: writing-review and editing; Shalini Mohan: writing-review and editing; Tetiana Tatarchuk: writing-review and editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Tetiana Tatarchuk.

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Muthulakshmi, L., Mohan, S. & Tatarchuk, T. Microplastics in water: types, detection, and removal strategies. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 84933–84948 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28460-6

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