RT book part
T1 Fate and behavior of microplastics in wastewater, accumulation in organisms and effects
A1 Egea-Corbacho Lopera, Agata
A1 Franco del Pino, Ana Amelia
A1 Martín García, Ana Pilar
A1 Quiroga Alonso, José María
A1 Coello Oviedo, María Dolores
A2 Tecnologías del Medio Ambiente
K1 microplastics
K1 wastewater
K1 sludge
K1 biota
K1 bioaccumulation
K1 biotoxicity
AB Studies on how microplastics (MPs) behave in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are increasing day by day. Although conventional WWTPs can efficiently remove MPs (64–99%), when considering the daily discharge rate, this percentage would not be sufficient. The total amount of MPs would still be discharged daily into the environment; therefore, the final effluent can act as one of the main routes of entry of MPs into aquatic environments. This chapter reviews the behavior of MPs in the different WWTP units, as well as their accumulation in the sludge. Subsequently, a discussion on how the MPs from the WWTP can reach the receiving media, such as aquatic or terrestrial media (water line and sludge line), to finally discuss how the fauna is affected by the entry of the MPs into the environment. These MPs can be ingested by aquatic life forms, leading to their bioaccumulation and biomagnification along the food chain, and causing negative effects on tissues, organs, and metabolism. MPs can also act as transport vehicles for other emerging pollutants such as pharmaceuticals and pesticides, increasing their hazardousness.
PB Sartaj Ahmad Bhat, Vineet Kumar, Fusheng Li and Pradeep Verma
SN 9781789063752
YR 2024
FD 2024
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/33720
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/33720
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 22-sep-2026