Development and Evaluation of Microplastic Filtering Device

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Water pollution is one of the worst environmental problems confronting man. With the widespread use of plastic products, there is a growing concern on contamination of marine life by micro plastics. Recent reports show different organisms ranging from small fishes to big whales meeting their death because of ingesting microplastics. For this reason, the researchers thought of designing a filtration device that could filter very small plastics so that these water contaminants can be collected and separated from bodies of water.

METHODS

The micro plastic filtering device was constructed following an approved design with features of filters with 1.00mm and 1.50mm openings. It was tested for functionality and efficiency by measuring and noting down the amount of micro plastics in the sample liquid before and after filtration using the device. The researchers tried to find out whether there exists a significant difference in the amount of micro plastic before and after filtration.

RESULTS

Results of the 10-trial functionality and efficiency test reveal that when the 1.50mm filter was used, the amount of micro plastics before filtration significantly decreased after filtration. On the other hand, when the 1.00 mm filter was used, all micro plastics present before filtration can no longer be detected after filtration.

DISCUSSIONS

Results show that the micro plastic filtration device is effective in filtering the micro plastic contaminant in the sample liquid with 100% success rate when the filter used has 1.00 mm opening and 85% success rate when the filter used has 1.50mm opening.