Nanoplastic Removal in Drinking Water by Ozonation and Filtration: Laboratory-Scale, Pilot-Scale and Modeling Studies

Microplastics detected in potable water sources and tap water have led to concerns about the efficacy of current drinking water treatment processes to remove these contaminants. It is hypothesized that drinking water resources contain nanoplastics (NPs), but the detection of NPs is challenging. We, therefore, used palladium (Pd)-labelled NPs to investigate the behavior and removal of NPs during conventional drinking water treatment processes including ozonation, sand and activated carbon filtration. Ozone doses typically applied in drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) did not affect the NPs transport in the subsequent filtration systems. Amongst the different filtration media, NP particles were most efficiently retained when aged (i.e. biofilm coated) sand was used with good agreements between laboratory and pilot scale systems. The removal of NPs through multiple filtration steps in a municipal full-scale DWTP was simulated using the MNMs software code. Removal efficiencies exceeding 3-log units were modeled for a combination of three consecutive filtration steps (rapid sand filtration, activated carbon filtration and slow sand filtration with 0.4-, 0.2- and 3.0-log-removal, respectively). The removal of NPs during slow sand filtration dominated the overall NPs removal. The results from this study can be used to estimate the NP removal efficiency of typical DWTPs.