Abstract
Microplastics are defined less than 5 mm size. Microplastics are divided into primary microplastics and secondary microplastics. The primary microplastics are made from the artificially manufacture, and the secondary microplastics are produced from the various decomposing/shredding factors. These microplastics are widely distributed in the environment. The microplastics in water system can be misinterpreted as food for organisms, and consequently bioaccumulation can have a significant impact on future ecosystems. Additives to plastics such as phthalate and bisphenol A are kinds of endocrine disrupters that cause genotoxicity and sexual dysfunction, and plastics can adsorb persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and metals. Therefore, microplastics with large specific surface area can also adsorb such chemicals. These microplastics are entered to the environment via sewage treatment facility (STF), marine leisure, aquaculture, dust and so on. STF, generally, adopts various processes for target matters (i.g. A2O, SBR (sequential batch reactor), media process and so on). Of these sewage treatment processes, in 2013, the number of SBR process was the highest, followed by A2O and media processes in South Korea. In this study, we investigated the microplastics in influent, effluent and sludge cake of sewage treatment facility.
