University of Twente Student Theses
The potential of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Plants in the Netherlands to remove the contemporary contaminant microplastics from the inflow wastewater
Dey, D. (2018) The potential of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Plants in the Netherlands to remove the contemporary contaminant microplastics from the inflow wastewater.
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| Abstract: | The entrance of new contaminants on the water quality policy agenda initiates matter of concern for managers of wastewater treatment plants. This research outlines a capacity analysis of the Dutch urban wastewater treatment plants (UWWTPs) to treat these new contaminants. The research focuses on the contemporary contaminant, microplastics, for analyzing the removal capacity of the UWWTPs. This contaminant is selected because of its high impact on the environment, which led to its entrance on the water quality policy agenda. This research categorizes the UWWTPs in the Netherlands based on their basic wastewater treatment capacity. Presence of secondary and tertiary technology in the UWWTPs and the need for additional technology to remove microplastics are the basis of this categorization. Furthermore the study uses qualitative methodology to collect information on the biochemical nature of the contaminant and evaluates the technical performance of the known removal processes. It also looks at required policy and regulation to upgrade the UWWTPs for microplastics removal. Overall a situation analysis of the UWWTPs depicts their capacity to treat such contemporary contaminants. The situation analysis founds that the UWWTPs of the Netherlands are removing high amount of microplastics with their primary treatment system but they release small but significant amount of microplastics which is harmful for the marine environment. The case analysis of emerging chemical contaminants indicates that regulation change is required to upgrade the UWWTPs for microplastics removal and that is a time-consuming process. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 43 environmental science |
| Programme: | Environmental and Energy Management MSc (69319) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/77519 |
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