Author Identifier (ORCID)

Mehdi Khiadani: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1703-9342

Muhammad Rizwan Azhar: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5938-282X

Masoumeh Zargar: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9811-6156

Abstract

Microplastic (MP) pollution has emerged as a threat to drinking water quality, where fibres are the dominant type of MPs found in drinking/wastewater treatment plant influents. The potential of MP removal through conventional treatment has not been vastly studied. Accordingly, this study investigates the removal of MP fibres using two-hybrid methods: coagulation-flocculation followed by sedimentation (CFS); and coagulation-flocculation combined with flotation using microbubbles (CFm) in the presence of two different water matrices, deionised water (DI) containing surfactants and DI water in the presence of humic acid (HA). A typically used Aluminium-based coagulant (AlCl3.6H2O) and a green-based coagulant, Chitosan, were employed and their microfibre removal efficiencies were compared with the aid of turbidity measurements. The results in the HA-simulated water matrix, the CFS treatment with the AlCl3.6H2O coagulant achieved the highest MP removal rate of 88.46 %. In contrast, Chitosan was most effective during the CFm treatment in the same water matrix, with a removal rate of 78.30 % and a 5 mg/L coagulant concentration. These results demonstrate that Chitosan has the potential to achieve high MP fibre removal with less coagulant dosage in different water matrices.

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

6-1-2025

Volume

13

Issue

3

Publication Title

Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering

Publisher

Elsevier

School

School of Engineering

Funders

Australian Research Council

Grant Number

ARC Number : DE220101043

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Comments

Thathsarani, N., Khiadani, M., Azhar, M. R., & Zargar, M. (2025). Enhanced removal of microplastic fibres using aluminium and chitosan-based coagulants assisted with microbubble technology. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 13(3), 116780. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2025.116780

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1016/j.jece.2025.116780