Removal of microplastics from water streams using membrane technology

摘要

The removal of microplastics from drinking, process or wastewater streams is a major step towards the reduction of microplastic pollution found in the environment. The use of plastic microbeads in cosmetics and personal care products has already been banned in the UK and many other countries. However microplastic pollution is still being generated by the waste plastics already in the environment which are aging and self-abrading on a very wide scale. As a result, most water sources now contain background but rising levels of microplastic contamination, which can ultimately feed back into in the human food chain.