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Effect of Polypropylene Microplastics Concentration on Wastewater Denitrification

Received: 20 April 2022     Accepted: 5 May 2022     Published: 12 May 2022
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Abstract

Microplastics have been ubiquitously in the environment, and a large number of microplastics have entered wastewater treatment plants, and their effects on activated sludge denitrification are rarely reported. Polypropylene (PP) microplastics were selected as the research object for denitrification research. Herein, we set different concentrations of PP microplastics to study their effect on sewage denitrification. Several indicators including NO3--N, NO2--N, Total-N (TN), extracellular polymer substances, Zeta potential, and N2O production, etc., were employed to evaluate the denitrification effect. Results demonstrated that the denitrification process was affected by the concentration of PP microplastics. Its concentration may damage the denitrification of sludge, especially in low concentrations, due to its slowing down the NO2--N reduction process. Meanwhile, it will release an amount of greenhouse gas N2O as the concentration is positively correlated. However, the removal of NO3--N is almost unaffected in different concentrations of PP microplastics during the denitrification process. When the concentration of PP microplastics reached 60 mg L-1, the accumulation of NO2--N in the effluent increased significantly. Accordingly, the extracellular polymer and potential indicators also showed that PP microplastics will reduce the flocculation capacity of the sludge, resulting in a decrease in the denitrification efficiency of the sludge overall. When the concentration of PP microplastics exceeded 100 mg L-1, the impact of microplastics on denitrification water quality indicators was relatively small, but it will increase the N2O emission with a negative impact. In addition, the activated sludge denitrification pathway can be affected by the addition of different microplastics and requires further investigations in the future.

Published in Science Journal of Chemistry (Volume 10, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.sjc.20221003.11
Page(s) 53-60
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Microplastics, Polypropylene, Denitrification, Activated Sludge

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Xiongshuang Su, Cheng Chen, Jia Li, Shun Lu, Guihua Xu. (2022). Effect of Polypropylene Microplastics Concentration on Wastewater Denitrification. Science Journal of Chemistry, 10(3), 53-60. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjc.20221003.11

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    ACS Style

    Xiongshuang Su; Cheng Chen; Jia Li; Shun Lu; Guihua Xu. Effect of Polypropylene Microplastics Concentration on Wastewater Denitrification. Sci. J. Chem. 2022, 10(3), 53-60. doi: 10.11648/j.sjc.20221003.11

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    AMA Style

    Xiongshuang Su, Cheng Chen, Jia Li, Shun Lu, Guihua Xu. Effect of Polypropylene Microplastics Concentration on Wastewater Denitrification. Sci J Chem. 2022;10(3):53-60. doi: 10.11648/j.sjc.20221003.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.sjc.20221003.11,
      author = {Xiongshuang Su and Cheng Chen and Jia Li and Shun Lu and Guihua Xu},
      title = {Effect of Polypropylene Microplastics Concentration on Wastewater Denitrification},
      journal = {Science Journal of Chemistry},
      volume = {10},
      number = {3},
      pages = {53-60},
      doi = {10.11648/j.sjc.20221003.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjc.20221003.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sjc.20221003.11},
      abstract = {Microplastics have been ubiquitously in the environment, and a large number of microplastics have entered wastewater treatment plants, and their effects on activated sludge denitrification are rarely reported. Polypropylene (PP) microplastics were selected as the research object for denitrification research. Herein, we set different concentrations of PP microplastics to study their effect on sewage denitrification. Several indicators including NO3--N, NO2--N, Total-N (TN), extracellular polymer substances, Zeta potential, and N2O production, etc., were employed to evaluate the denitrification effect. Results demonstrated that the denitrification process was affected by the concentration of PP microplastics. Its concentration may damage the denitrification of sludge, especially in low concentrations, due to its slowing down the NO2--N reduction process. Meanwhile, it will release an amount of greenhouse gas N2O as the concentration is positively correlated. However, the removal of NO3--N is almost unaffected in different concentrations of PP microplastics during the denitrification process. When the concentration of PP microplastics reached 60 mg L-1, the accumulation of NO2--N in the effluent increased significantly. Accordingly, the extracellular polymer and potential indicators also showed that PP microplastics will reduce the flocculation capacity of the sludge, resulting in a decrease in the denitrification efficiency of the sludge overall. When the concentration of PP microplastics exceeded 100 mg L-1, the impact of microplastics on denitrification water quality indicators was relatively small, but it will increase the N2O emission with a negative impact. In addition, the activated sludge denitrification pathway can be affected by the addition of different microplastics and requires further investigations in the future.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Effect of Polypropylene Microplastics Concentration on Wastewater Denitrification
    AU  - Xiongshuang Su
    AU  - Cheng Chen
    AU  - Jia Li
    AU  - Shun Lu
    AU  - Guihua Xu
    Y1  - 2022/05/12
    PY  - 2022
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjc.20221003.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.sjc.20221003.11
    T2  - Science Journal of Chemistry
    JF  - Science Journal of Chemistry
    JO  - Science Journal of Chemistry
    SP  - 53
    EP  - 60
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-099X
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjc.20221003.11
    AB  - Microplastics have been ubiquitously in the environment, and a large number of microplastics have entered wastewater treatment plants, and their effects on activated sludge denitrification are rarely reported. Polypropylene (PP) microplastics were selected as the research object for denitrification research. Herein, we set different concentrations of PP microplastics to study their effect on sewage denitrification. Several indicators including NO3--N, NO2--N, Total-N (TN), extracellular polymer substances, Zeta potential, and N2O production, etc., were employed to evaluate the denitrification effect. Results demonstrated that the denitrification process was affected by the concentration of PP microplastics. Its concentration may damage the denitrification of sludge, especially in low concentrations, due to its slowing down the NO2--N reduction process. Meanwhile, it will release an amount of greenhouse gas N2O as the concentration is positively correlated. However, the removal of NO3--N is almost unaffected in different concentrations of PP microplastics during the denitrification process. When the concentration of PP microplastics reached 60 mg L-1, the accumulation of NO2--N in the effluent increased significantly. Accordingly, the extracellular polymer and potential indicators also showed that PP microplastics will reduce the flocculation capacity of the sludge, resulting in a decrease in the denitrification efficiency of the sludge overall. When the concentration of PP microplastics exceeded 100 mg L-1, the impact of microplastics on denitrification water quality indicators was relatively small, but it will increase the N2O emission with a negative impact. In addition, the activated sludge denitrification pathway can be affected by the addition of different microplastics and requires further investigations in the future.
    VL  - 10
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • College of River and Ocean Engineering, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing, China

  • Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, China

  • Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, China

  • Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, China

  • Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, China

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