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Microplastic Effect

Microplastic Effect

Attached Growth Process

Attached-growth processes are biological treatment processes used in wastewater treatment and indoor fish farming where the biomass is grown on support media for organic pollutants degradation. Attached-growth processes are easy to operate and resilient to shock loads. However, they are less flexible for process control than the activated-sludge process.
The earlier developed media are rock, ceramic, and slag. However, currently, plastic materials are preferred as they are economically mass-produced.
With the advantage of the compact design of the attached growth processes, the process becomes a favorable option for the upgradation of the existing wastewater treatment plant. The available technologies for Wastewater and Sewage treatment are Moving Bed Bio-Reactor (MBBR) and Fluidized Aerated Bed (FAB) Reactor.
Further, with the advantage of handling high organic loading, the process becomes a favorable option for indoor fish farming. The available technologies for indoor fish farming are Bio Filter of Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) and BioFloc (BF).

Microplastic from Polymer Media

Microplastics are plastics less than five millimeters in diameter. There are two categories of microplastics which are Primary and Secondary microplastics.
Primary microplastics are particles designed for commercial use, such as cosmetics, and microfibers shed from clothing and other textiles, such as fishing nets.
Secondary microplastics have resulted from the breakdown of larger plastic particles, such as water bottles and Polymer Media.
The problem with microplastics is that they do not readily break down into harmless molecules. Plastics can take hundreds of years to decompose and wreak havoc on the environment.

Note: Although microplastics are omnipresent in nature, their impact on environmental and human health remains widely unclear.

Microplastic Effect

Polymer Media

Polymer media are designed based on the surface area, dynamic relationship between carrier design, reactor operation, and biofilm characteristics, such as biofilm thickness and composition of the microbial community.
Due to the geometry and material characteristics, the polymer media are prone to release microplastics through abrasion and wear into the water.

One should consider these effects during the design of wastewater and sewage treatment plants, especially when the treated wastewater and treated sewage are discharged into the surface water. Also, one should consider these effects and adopt non-polymeric media for indoor fish farming.

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