After investigating a number of technologies for removing nano plastics in water, scientists found that the bioactive system called slow sand filter can effectively remove small particles, with an efficiency of 99.9% Although there are still many questions about the impact of nano plastics on the human body, the best way is to filter them to prevent them from entering the human body.
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In order to explore the possibility of this field, scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Fisheries Science and Technology (EAWAG) studied how different treatment processes can effectively eliminate nano plastics in drinking water.
The team's experiments tested three technologies, including activated carbon filtration; Ozonation, chemical injection of ozone into water for treatment and disinfection; And slow sand filtration. The last technology involves an ecosystem consisting of gravel layers, sand, and surface bioactive layers, including worms and bacteria. These form biofilms that perform most of the purification.
Nano plastics are then labeled with the chemical element palladium and added in large quantities to untreated water, enabling mass spectrometers to track their journey through the water treatment process. Among the technologies studied, the research team found that slow sand filtration was the most effective for nano plastic particles and successfully eliminated them, with an efficiency of 99.9%.
According to their results, the research team said that this filtration method can effectively remove a large number of nano plastics for a long time, but it needs to remove a few centimeters of sand at the top to prevent biofilm blockage.