Alibekov Alisher, Meirambayeva Mira, Yengsebek Shugyla, Aldyngurova Firyuza, Lee Woojin
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Digital Sciences and Engineering, Nazarbayev University, Astana 010000, Republic of Kazakhstan; Laboratory of Environmental Systems, National Laboratory Astana, Nazarbayev University, Astana 010000, Republic of Kazakhstan.
Department of Mining Engineering, School of Mining and Geosciences, Nazarbayev University, Astana 010000, Republic of Kazakhstan.
Sci Total Environ. 2025 Jan 25;962:178378. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.178378. Epub 2025 Jan 10.
This study aimed to quantify the environmental impact of microplastic (MP) emissions from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) using life cycle assessment (LCA). The investigation comprehensively evaluated the contribution of MPs to overall WWTP midpoint and endpoint impacts, with a detailed analysis of the influence of particle size, shape, polymer type, and the environmental costs and benefits of individual wastewater treatment processes on MP removal. The LCA model was developed using SimaPro software, with impact assessments conducted via the USEtox framework and the IMPACT World+ methodology. Results showed that at the midpoint level, MPs accounted for 1.24E+05 CTUe (94 % of the total plant impact), representing the potential harm to aquatic species per cubic meter of discharged wastewater-surpassing the impacts of other contaminants (e.g., heavy metals, nutrients) by at least two orders of magnitude. At the endpoint level, the damage of 8.39E-02 PDF·m·yr (1.7 % of the total) indicated the potential loss of species diversity, comparable to other pollutant contributions. Polyethylene, polystyrene, and polypropylene were identified as the most impactful polymer types. In terms of environmental costs and benefits, secondary, tertiary, and primary treatments demonstrated decreasing environmental benefits, directly correlated with their respective MP removal efficiencies. These findings underscore the critical role of MP emissions in WWTP life cycle inventories and highlight the urgent need for targeted environmental policies and advanced treatment technologies to address MP contamination in both natural and engineered aquatic systems.
本研究旨在利用生命周期评估（LCA）量化污水处理厂（WWTPs）微塑料（MP）排放的环境影响。该调查全面评估了微塑料对污水处理厂整体中点和终点影响的贡献，并详细分析了粒径、形状、聚合物类型以及各个污水处理工艺对微塑料去除的环境成本和效益的影响。使用SimaPro软件开发了LCA模型，并通过USEtox框架和IMPACT World+方法进行了影响评估。结果表明，在中点水平上，微塑料占1.24E+05 CTUe（占工厂总影响的94%），这代表了每立方米排放废水对水生物种的潜在危害——超过其他污染物（如重金属、营养物质）的影响至少两个数量级。在终点水平上，8.39E-02 PDF·m·yr的损害（占总量的1.7%）表明了物种多样性的潜在损失，与其他污染物的贡献相当。聚乙烯、聚苯乙烯和聚丙烯被确定为影响最大的聚合物类型。在环境成本和效益方面，二级、三级和一级处理的环境效益呈递减趋势，这与它们各自的微塑料去除效率直接相关。这些发现强调了微塑料排放在污水处理厂生命周期清单中的关键作用，并突出了制定针对性环境政策和先进处理技术以解决自然和工程水生系统中微塑料污染的迫切需求。
