Micoplastic removal from natural aquatic environments through dissolved air flotation

In the current study dissolved air flotation has been applied to verify the removal characteristics in drinking water treatment processes. Various aspects of microplastic, and water quality conditions were tested using dissolved air flotation to determine the removal efficiency and mechanism of microplastics. To simulate DAF processes under practical conditions, the type and size of microplastics were set based on the water quality conditions of a river, and the experiments were conducted under similar water quality conditions. For the microplastics used in the experiments various size, and densities were tested to verify its removal characteristics. Different pollutant type and concentrations were also tested with microplastic to verify the removal rate and mechanism during the flotation process. To better understand the removal of microplastics, different type and concentration of coagulants were also used in the system to better understand the removal mechanism. Finally the transport of various heavy metals were also verified to better understand the effects of organic pollutant's effect on heavy metal transport in the system. Results showed a correlation with the microplastic flotation capacity and removal rates. Effects of organic matter showed a high impact on the removal mechanism, where the increased amount of organic matter resulted in lower removal rates. The amount of organic matter also influenced the ate and transport of heavy metal sorption and transport on microplastic surfaces, indicating a higher hindrance of sorption capacity due to chelating effects.