A comprehensive review on advanced wastewater treatment technologies for microplastic control

Pollution from microplastics (MPs) in wastewater (WW) has become a significant environmental issue and an increasing public health threat. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) function as both sinks and generators of MPs, effectively eliminating a significant portion of these particles while concurrently enabling their discharge into the environment via treated effluents and sludge application. Present review analyses the origins and prevalence of MPs in WWTPs while critically assessing recent developments in treatment technology. This comprehensive review discusses several removal techniques utilised in WWTPs, including coagulation/flocculation sedimentation (CFS), photocatalytic method, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) and membrane techniques. Microbial degradation has garnered significant attention among biological techniques, as several bacterial and fungal species exhibit the capacity to degrade MPs by enzymatic processes, resulting in partial or complete mineralisation into carbon dioxide, water and microbial biomass. Nonetheless, despite claimed efficacy, numerous procedures are hindered by intrinsic limitations, including elevated operating and energy consumption, intricate infrastructure demands, suboptimal removal efficiencies, and the potential for producing secondary MPs. This analysis highlights the pressing necessity of the development of sustainable, economical, and MPs-specific treatment technologies that may effectively be incorporated into current WW systems to more efficiently reduce MPs pollution.