Cherian Ashlyn G, Liu Zeyuan, McKie Michael J, Almuhtaram Husein, Andrews Robert C
Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A4, Canada.
Polymers (Basel). 2023 Mar 7;15(6):1331. doi: 10.3390/polym15061331.
The occurrence of microplastics in drinking water has drawn increasing attention due to their ubiquity and unresolved implications regarding human health. Despite achieving high reduction efficiencies (70 to >90%) at conventional drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs), microplastics remain. Since human consumption represents a small portion of typical household water use, point-of-use (POU) water treatment devices may provide the additional removal of microplastics (MPs) prior to consumption. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of commonly used pour-through POU devices, including those that utilize combinations of granular activated carbon (GAC), ion exchange (IX), and microfiltration (MF), with respect to MP removal. Treated drinking water was spiked with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) fragments, along with nylon fibers representing a range of particle sizes (30-1000 µm) at concentrations of 36-64 particles/L. Samples were collected from each POU device following 25, 50, 75, 100 and 125% increases in the manufacturer's rated treatment capacity, and subsequently analyzed via microscopy to determine their removal efficiency. Two POU devices that incorporate MF technologies exhibited 78-86% and 94-100% removal values for PVC and PET fragments, respectively, whereas one device that only incorporates GAC and IX resulted in a greater number of particles in its effluent when compared to the influent. When comparing the two devices that incorporate membranes, the device with the smaller nominal pore size (0.2 µm vs. ≥1 µm) exhibited the best performance. These findings suggest that POU devices that incorporate physical treatment barriers, including membrane filtration, may be optimal for MP removal (if desired) from drinking water.
由于微塑料在饮用水中普遍存在且对人类健康的影响尚未明确，其在饮用水中的出现已引起越来越多的关注。尽管传统饮用水处理厂（DWTPs）能实现较高的去除效率（70%至>90%），但微塑料仍会残留。由于人类饮水量仅占家庭典型用水量的一小部分，使用点（POU）水处理设备可能会在饮用水被饮用前进一步去除微塑料（MPs）。本研究的主要目的是评估常用的倾注式POU设备（包括那些使用颗粒活性炭（GAC）、离子交换（IX）和微滤（MF）组合的设备）在去除微塑料方面的性能。向经过处理的饮用水中添加聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）和聚氯乙烯（PVC）碎片，以及代表一系列粒径（30 - 1000 µm）的尼龙纤维，浓度为36 - 64颗粒/升。在制造商额定处理能力分别提高25%、50%、75%、100%和125%后，从每个POU设备收集样品，随后通过显微镜分析以确定其去除效率。两种采用MF技术的POU设备对PVC和PET碎片的去除率分别为78 - 86%和94 - 100%，而一种仅采用GAC和IX的设备，其流出物中的颗粒数量比流入物更多。在比较两种采用膜的设备时，标称孔径较小（0.2 µm对≥1 µm）的设备表现最佳。这些发现表明，采用包括膜过滤在内的物理处理屏障的POU设备可能是从饮用水中去除微塑料（如果需要）的最佳选择。
