Evaluation of membranes performance for microplastic removal in a simple and low-cost filtration system

Abstract The ubiquitous presence of microplastics (MPs) in the environment has become a major challenge recent years. One main concerns is eco-toxicological effect on marine ecosystems and potential threat for human organs tissues. This paper focuses evaluating membranes performance removing MPs within simple, low-cost system that could be easily implemented domestic environment. polycarbonate, cellulose acetate, polytetrafluoroethylene with same nominal pore size 5 ??m was evaluated removal polyamide polystyrene microparticles range 20–300 ??m. Their mass efficiency when filtering 100 ?mg/L also calculated. A high above 94 obtained three membranes. However, depending MPs’ nature, they either break through membrane or down into smaller particle sizes. Beside size-exclusion separation, competing mechanisms are abrasion fouling phenomenon. contribution depends properties, MPs-membrane interaction, particles’ irregularity, transmembrane pressures employed. At comparable efficiency, highest performing material long-term household applications found to acetate.