Effect of UV-degraded microplastics on Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) removal

Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous environmental pollutants that cause significant effects on the aquatic ecosystem and human health, including challenging water treatment systems due to their small particle size and high environmental persistence. This study aims to investigate the effect of ultrav...

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Main Authors: Pit Sovannary, Sangpreedeekorn Jirawat, Phengsaart Theerayut, Janjaroen Dao
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: EDP Sciences 2025-01-01
Series:E3S Web of Conferences
Online Access:https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2025/12/e3sconf_aere2025_03001.pdf
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author Pit Sovannary
Sangpreedeekorn Jirawat
Phengsaart Theerayut
Janjaroen Dao
author_facet Pit Sovannary
Sangpreedeekorn Jirawat
Phengsaart Theerayut
Janjaroen Dao
author_sort Pit Sovannary
collection DOAJ
description Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous environmental pollutants that cause significant effects on the aquatic ecosystem and human health, including challenging water treatment systems due to their small particle size and high environmental persistence. This study aims to investigate the effect of ultraviolet (UV) radiation on two types of MPs, polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS), by using the dissolved air flotation (DAF) process. In this work, MPs in the size ranges (300-500 μm) were subjected to controlled UVC exposure to simulate environmental weathering. After 30 days of irradiation, the results show that the removal efficiency of aged PP increased to 40.67%, while the unaged PP was only 35.12%. Similarly, pristine PS had a removal efficiency of 14.66%, which substantially improved to 31.33% after UVC degradation. The increase in UV-aged MPs can be attributed to surface modifications, such as increased surface roughness and the formation of more oxygen-containing functional groups, which modified their interactions with air bubbles in the DAF process and hence affected their removal efficiency. These findings indicate that UV exposure significantly enhances the DAF process in removing MPs, providing a promising approach for improving MP mitigation in water treatment systems.
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series E3S Web of Conferences
spelling doaj-art-b649b1ae2a15497ea6bd3ec632a6b1752025-02-05T10:51:05ZengEDP SciencesE3S Web of Conferences2267-12422025-01-016120300110.1051/e3sconf/202561203001e3sconf_aere2025_03001Effect of UV-degraded microplastics on Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) removalPit Sovannary0Sangpreedeekorn Jirawat1Phengsaart Theerayut2Janjaroen Dao3Department of Environmental and Sustainable Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn UniversityDepartment of Environmental and Sustainable Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn UniversityDepartment of Mining and Petroleum Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn UniversityDepartment of Environmental and Sustainable Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn UniversityMicroplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous environmental pollutants that cause significant effects on the aquatic ecosystem and human health, including challenging water treatment systems due to their small particle size and high environmental persistence. This study aims to investigate the effect of ultraviolet (UV) radiation on two types of MPs, polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS), by using the dissolved air flotation (DAF) process. In this work, MPs in the size ranges (300-500 μm) were subjected to controlled UVC exposure to simulate environmental weathering. After 30 days of irradiation, the results show that the removal efficiency of aged PP increased to 40.67%, while the unaged PP was only 35.12%. Similarly, pristine PS had a removal efficiency of 14.66%, which substantially improved to 31.33% after UVC degradation. The increase in UV-aged MPs can be attributed to surface modifications, such as increased surface roughness and the formation of more oxygen-containing functional groups, which modified their interactions with air bubbles in the DAF process and hence affected their removal efficiency. These findings indicate that UV exposure significantly enhances the DAF process in removing MPs, providing a promising approach for improving MP mitigation in water treatment systems.https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2025/12/e3sconf_aere2025_03001.pdf
spellingShingle Pit Sovannary
Sangpreedeekorn Jirawat
Phengsaart Theerayut
Janjaroen Dao
Effect of UV-degraded microplastics on Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) removal
E3S Web of Conferences
title Effect of UV-degraded microplastics on Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) removal
title_full Effect of UV-degraded microplastics on Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) removal
title_fullStr Effect of UV-degraded microplastics on Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) removal
title_full_unstemmed Effect of UV-degraded microplastics on Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) removal
title_short Effect of UV-degraded microplastics on Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) removal
title_sort effect of uv degraded microplastics on dissolved air flotation daf removal
url https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2025/12/e3sconf_aere2025_03001.pdf
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AT phengsaarttheerayut effectofuvdegradedmicroplasticsondissolvedairflotationdafremoval
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