Determination of microplastic holding capacity of Yozgat wastewater treatment plant

Plastic material production has been rapidly increased since 1950s. Since plastic materials are durable, easy to shape and low-cost, they commonly used in different industries. Plastic materials are durable and rather than decomposing, they break down into small plastic particles over time. These small particles that are less than 5 mm usually defined as microplastic. As a consequence of large plastic production rates, plastic waste accumulation in natural environment rapidly increased all over the World. However, the effects and distribution of plastic wastes in different ecosystems still largely unknown. Water treatment plants, where domestic and industrial wastewater containing microplastic particles are collected and treated, are important facilities to estimate plastic waste release or retention amount to the environment. In this study it was aimed to investigate microplastic removal rate of Wastewater Treatment Plant in Yozgat. Water samples were taken twice (March- September) as three replicates and from both inlet (10 L) and outlet (200 L). Water samples were filtered through stacked steel sieves with different pore sizes (500 μ, 328 μ, 61 μ) and subjected to wet peroxide oxidation. Than isolated particles were counted (colour, shape, size) under stereo microscope. Additionally, 44 random particles were analysed with FTIR spectroscopy. According to FTIR results most abundant microplastic types were polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride. According to the results WWTP removed % 96.7 of the microplastic particles came from influent.