Fate of microfibres from single-use face masks: Release to the environment and removal during wastewater treatment.

Single-use face masks can release microfibres upon exposure to environmental conditions. This study investigates the number of microfibres released in the presence and absence of UV irradiation and mechanical friction and the removal of the released microfibres in a simulated conventional wastewater treatment process. UV exposure results in a four-fold increase in the number of microfibres released from new masks and used masks resulting in ~2400 microfibres/mask and ~1100 microfibres/mask, respectively. Application of mechanical friction to the UV-exposed new and used masks further increases the number of released microfibres per mask. In a simulated coagulation/flocculation process, the removals of microfibers originating from new masks and used masks are 79% and 91%, respectively. XPS analysis reveals that the silica content of the used masks is 240% higher than that of new masks, which could explain the higher removal efficiency of microfibers from used masks. FTIR analysis of the masks after UV exposure shows carbonyl indices of 0.73 ± 0.70 and 0.27 ± 0.10 for the microfibres from used and new masks, respectively. Based on available data, we estimate that 4-47 million polypropylene microfibres can be released into natural waters per day after wastewater treatment in an urban environment (for a population of 4300 persons/km2).

Updated review on microplastics in water, their occurrence, detection, measurement, environmental pollution, and the need for regulatory standards.

The gravity of the impending threats posed by microplastics (MPs) pollution in the environment cannot be over-emphasized. Several research studies continue to stress how important it is to curb the proliferation of these small plastic particles with different physical and chemical properties, especially in aquatic environments. While several works on how to monitor, detect and remove MPs from the aquatic environment have been published, there is still a lack of explicit regulatory framework for mitigation of MPs globally. A critical review that summarizes recent advances in MPs research and emphasizes the need for regulatory frameworks devoted to MPs is presented in this paper. These frameworks suggested in this paper may be useful for reducing the proliferation of MPs in the environment. Based on all reviewed studies related to MPs research, we discussed the occurrence of MPs by identifying the major types and sources of MPs in water bodies; examined the recent ways of detecting, monitoring, and measuring MPs routinely to minimize projected risks; and proposed recommendations for consensus regulatory actions that will be effective for MPs mitigation.