Date of Publication :4th September 2017
Abstract: Microbeads are solid plastic particles of less than five millimetres in their large dimension, which are frequently made of polyethylene but can be of other petrochemical plastics such as polypropylene and polystyrene. These microbeads are produced from exfoliating personal care products, toothpaste which is washed down the drain can pass unfiltered through the sewage treatment plants that makes their way into rivers and canals which result in plastic particle water pollution. These beads can absorb and concentrate pollutants on their surface, and thereby carry the pollutants. The study says that 5000-95000 microbeads are released into the environment with every single use of personal care product in which 35000 tons of micro plastic are from the cosmetic products. It constitutes 0.1-4% of the total plastic pollution. The rate 0.95 million tons per annum are dumped into the oceans which have a huge impact on the marine environment and to fisheries. In this paper, we try to understand the effectiveness of coagulation (Nano clay and moringa), Adsorption (activated carbon, Carbon nanotubes), Ion-Exchange (Nano clay and resins) and membrane filtration (Nano membranes) in the separation or removal of microbeads and to come with a technology for the treatment of microbeads contaminated water
Reference :
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- Peter Sundt Per-Erik Schulze Frode Syversen- Sources of microplastics-pollution to the marine environmnet
- Dr. Marc Saner - Microbeads: “Tip of the Toxic Plastic-berg”? Regulation, Alternatives, and Future Implications
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- Microbeads- A Science Summary