Identification, removal of microplastics and surfactants from laundry wastewater using electrocoagulation method

Abstract

Microplastics (MPs) and surfactants are generally recognized as emerging contaminants with complicated ecotoxicological impacts. The majority of study data refers to laundry wastewater as a substantial source of MPs and surfactants in the aquatic system, which reaches aquatic environments through sewer discharges even when wastewater treatment facilities retain them. This study focused on releasing and removing contaminants from laundry wastewater, particularly MPs and surfactants. The electrocoagulation method was used to remove the pollutants from laundry wastewater. According to the results, a reference load of 2 kg of synthetic materials releases 92,700 to 1,14,300 synthetic microfibers (MFs). MFs, surfactants, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency are higher at neutral pH. The percentage removal efficiency of MFs, surfactants, and COD was 97.9%, 91.2%, and 86.3%, respectively, at an operating time of 25 min, a current density of 300 A/m² with optimum power consumption. The total operation cost of laundry wastewater treatment by electrocoagulation was US$0.53 /m³. The readers will gain a complete understanding of the removal of MFs and surfactants from laundry wastewater using the electrocoagulation technique.

Keywords

Microplastics / microfibers / surfactant / laundry wastewater / electrocoagulation

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