Microplastic Removal and Assessment in Wastewater Treatment Plants
A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Wastewater Treatment and Reuse".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 September 2025 | Viewed by 1474
Special Issue Editors
Interests: microplastics; wastewater; technology innovation; microplastic removal; microplastic detection; circular economy; sustainable process design
Interests: zero-waste solutions; biomaterials; natural biopolymers; (micro)plastic identification; tertiary plastic recycling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been identified as important point sources for microplastics (MPs) in the environment. Most modern WWTPs are equipped with three treatment stages and must adhere to the EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (Council Directive 91/271/EEC) (UWWTD). However, it has been found that although such WWTPs can remove between 64 and >99% of MPs from wastewater, depending on their design and operating conditions, due to the high volumes of treated wastewater, significant amounts of MPs are still discharged into the environment. The revised UWWTD includes mandatory sampling and analysis of MP levels at least twice a year for WWTPs with >100,000 population equivalents (PEs) and once every 2 years for WWTPs with >10,000 PEs. However, the results of long-term monitoring studies indicate that MP contamination levels have high fluctuations, and a much higher frequency of sampling is required to obtain representative results on MP levels.
MP monitoring consists of sampling, sample preparation, and the detection method. For each of these steps, there are still no standardized methods. Additionally, more regular monitoring is necessary to understand the hotspots of MP pollution and how contamination levels vary according to different treatment processes, as well as to obtain reliable data to help implement effective legislation.
This Special Issue, therefore, aims to focus on the following topics:
- Data collection with various MP detection methods;
- New analytical devices and innovative methods for quick, easy, and reliable MP detection;
- Analysis of MP removal efficiencies at WWTPs with and without targeted MP removal technologies;
- Comparison of removal technologies;
- Long-term MP monitoring;
- All aspects of sustainability and impact measurements, including sustainable process design and lifecycle analysis, as well as new circular solutions (with a focus on MPs and water reuse).
Dr. Katrin Schuhen
Dr. Uroš Novak
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- microplastics
- wastewater
- wastewater treatment plant
- cleaning stages
- microplastics removal technology
- pollution
- environmental protection
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