Extraction and identification of microplastic particles from secondary wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent

Abstract

Although studies on microplastics in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) treated effluent have recently been published, no standard method for sampling, identification and quantification of microplastics has been established, which complicates the comparison of results across various studies. This paper presents an attempt to optimize the Wet Peroxide Oxidation (WPO) digestion procedure applicable to wastewater effluent matrices and underscores unique challenges and interferences that analysts face when attempting to quantify microplastic particles in wastewater.