• Title/Summary/Keyword: micro-plastics

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Characteristics of micro-plastics in stormwater sediment basin: Case study of J wetland

  • Jiyeol Im;Kyungik Gil
    • Membrane and Water Treatment
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    • v.14 no.4
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    • pp.147-153
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    • 2023
  • Urbanization has been causing such new pollutants as micro-plastic, thus the environmental impact of new pollutants on ecosystem is rapidly increasing. When it comes to micro-plastic, a representative artificial trace pollutant, its risk has been increased at a much faster rate, however the depth study associated with stormwater sediment and wetland was relatively rare. In this research, soil samples from storm water sediment were analyzed for distribution characteristics of micro-plastics in the J wetland (registered as Ramsar wetland, May 2021 and a representative environmental site in South Korea). Analyzed soil samples found approximately 201 ± 93 particle/kg (based on unit weight, Total micro plastic particles / Total Sample weight) micro-plastics in the samples. When considering the total quantitative numbers in stormwater sediment in the entire area of the J wetland, over 15,000 micro-plastics were estimated to be contaminating such area. In addition, in terms of qualitative numbers, micro-plastics were contaminating the J wetland with 94.7 % ratio of styrofoam type (43.9%) and polyethylene type (50.8%). These research results can be used as base data sets for controlling micro-plastics in the J wetland.

A Study on the Actual Condition of Microplastic Contamination in Mackerel

  • Kwon, Woo-Taeg;Kim, Kui-Sung;Lee, Woo-Sik;Kwon, Lee-Seung;Rha, Young-Ah
    • Culinary science and hospitality research
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    • v.24 no.2
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    • pp.119-127
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    • 2018
  • The purpose of this study is to investigate the contamination level of micro plastics in Korean mackerel and to investigate the detection method of micro plastics in fish. This study analyzed the detection and composition of micro plastics using natural mackerel and wild mackerel. 30% hydrogen peroxide and surfactant were added to GF/C filter paper in order to detect micro plastics in the sea. If micro plastics are exposed to the ocean for a long time, accumulation of heavy metals in the water will make pollutant bioaccumulation more serious. Microscopic consequences The risk to human health of plastics has already been studied by many researchers and the risks to human health already caused by marine microorganisms and zooplankton are becoming clear. The conclusion of this study is that there is a difference between the length and height of the mackerel when it is cooked from the standpoint of food in terms of practical implications. The conclusion of this study is that the probability of micro-plastic-contaminated mackerel to reach and be consumed by end-consumers is low in academic implications. Residual contaminants adsorbed on micro plastics are absorbed by digestive organs and cause disruption, and further research on micro plastics is needed in the future.

Study of micro-plastics separation from sea water with electro-magnetic force

  • Nomura, Naoki;Mishima, Fumihito;Nishijima, Shigehiro
    • Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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    • v.23 no.3
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    • pp.10-13
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    • 2021
  • The method of removing micro-plastics from sea water has been developed using electro-magnetic force. Plastics are difficult to decompose and put a great load on the marine environment. Especially a plastic with a size of 5 mm or less is defined as micro-plastic and are carried by ocean currents over long distances, causing global pollution. These are not easily decomposed in the natural environment. The Lorentz force was generated in simulated sea water and its reaction force was applied to the micro-plastic to control their motion. Lorentz force was generated downward and the reaction force to the plastics was upward. The plastic used in the experiment was polystyrene with a diameter of 6 mm, and the density was 1.07 g/cm3. The polystyrene sphere levitated at the current density of 0.83 A/cm2 and the external field of 0.87T. The particle trajectory calculation was also made to design separation system using superconducting magnet.

Separation of micro-plastics from sea water using electromagnetic archimedes force

  • N. Nomura;F. Mishima;S. Nishijima
    • Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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    • v.25 no.3
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    • pp.18-21
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    • 2023
  • Pollution of the environment by micro-plastics is now a worldwide problem. Plastics are difficult to decompose and put a great load on the marine environment. Especially a plastic with a size of 5 mm or less is defined as micro-plastic and are carried by ocean currents over long distances, causing global pollution. These are not easily decomposed in the natural environment. In this paper, we aimed to experimentally demonstrate that micro-plastics in seawater can be continuously separated by electromagnetic Archimedes force. Using polyethylene particles of 3 mm in diameter as the separation target, a flow channel was fabricated and separation conditions were investigated by particle trajectory calculations for separation experiments. Based on the calculation results, a solenoid-type superconducting magnet was used as a source of magnetic field to conduct separation experiments of micro-plastics in seawater. Although a high separation rate was assumed in the simulation results, the experimental results did not show any significant improvement in the separation rate due to the electromagnetic Archimedes force. It was found that the gas generated by the electrolytic reaction may have inhibited the migration of the particles.

A Study on the Effect of Porous CaCO3 on Micro-cellular Plastics as an Additive for Nucleation (다공성 $CaCO_{3}$가 발포핵제로서 초미세 발포에 미치는 영향)

  • Lee, Dong-Wook;Cha, Sung-Woon;Yoon, Jae-Dong
    • Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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    • 2004.11a
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    • pp.991-996
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    • 2004
  • Plastics are widely used in industry, because they are light, easily manufactured, and have high specific strength. And many researches to increase the strengths and to reduce the price are being conducted at now. One of these researches is concerning to additives. Foaming techniques are used to endow insulation properties, to improve specific strength, or reduce the material cost. Due to their unique properties, foamed plastics are applied to refrigerator, pipe, and insulators. Micro-cellular foaming is the latest foaming technique that was invented at 1980 in MIT. It is known that many tiny small cells are generated in the polymer matrices and micro-cellular foamed plastics show relatively high specific strength. We investigated the role of CaCO3 which is one of the most widely used additives in plastics industry as an additive for nucleation in view of cell morphology. CaCO3 used in this paper was treated to increase the dispersibility and to lower the density, so it has many pores at his body. Two experiments were conducted, in order to check the role of an additive for nucleation. One is compound-ability and the other one is role of nucleation agents.

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Acoustical properties of Polypropylene MCPs in low frequency range (Polypropylene MCPs의 저주파대역 음향특성)

  • Lee B.H.;Cha S.W.;Kang Y.J.
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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    • 2005.10a
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    • pp.828-833
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    • 2005
  • Micro Cellular Plastics create a sensation at polymer industrial for lowering product cost & overcoming a lowering of mechanical intensity. This research based on the experiment of sound absorption & transmission characteristics inquire into acoustical properties of Micro Cellular Plastics in low frequency range. TL difference of MCPs & Soild materials was defined as cell effect. Also, cell effect is expressed by sound reflection & sound absorption.

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The Insulation Property of Microcellular Injection Molding Plastics (초미세 발포 사출 성형품의 단열 특성)

  • Lee, Jung-Hyun;Hong, Soon-Kug;Kim, Ji-Hyun;Yoon, Jae-Dong
    • Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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    • 2001.06c
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    • pp.263-268
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    • 2001
  • MCPs means Micro Cellular Plastics. The micro-cells are generated in the products by the difference of dissolution through the pressure drop after super critical fluid of CO2 or N2 dissolves into polymer. We have developed injection molding process adopting MCPs and applied it to a broad range of injection molded thermoplastic materials and applications. It can prevent the leakage of impact strength and increase the thermal conductivity, moreover regulate the thermal conductivity. Then we can develop the high strength foaming plastics. Also, it can be gained a competitive advantage by utilizing its processing benefits, e.g. the lightweight products and significant reductions in material consumption.

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Weight Change of Microcellular Plastics by Using nitrogen Gas (질소 가스를 이용한 초미세 발포 고분자 재료의 무게변화)

  • Jeing, Dae-Jin;Cha, Sung-Woon;Yoon, Jae-Dong
    • Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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    • v.17 no.9
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    • pp.196-201
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    • 2000
  • There is a great demand for reducing the amount of material used in mass-produced plastics parts for material cost constitutes a large percentage of the total cost of a product up to 75% It may be noted that the price of plastics is directly related to the price of petroleum. Material reduction therefore decreases the amount of oil needed for the manufacture of plastics and thus help conserve this natural resource. Therefore microcellular foaming process(MCPs) was studied for solving this problems alternatively in 1980's at M. I. T. Until now in microcellular plastics processes carbon dioxide gas was mainly used for microcellular foaming Because carbon dioxide has more solubility than any other gases such as nitrogen gas or helium gas. The purpose of the this research is measurement of changing of the microcellular plastics' weight by using nitrogen gas in injection molding an comparing weight reduction of microcellular foamed plastics for using carbon dioxide gas with nitrogen gas.

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Numerical Analysis Study on Micro-plastic Particle behavior According to the Shape of Cyclone Separator (Cyclone separator의 형상에 따른 미세플라스틱 입자 거동 수치해석 연구)

  • Insun Kang;Wonjun Seo;Dongho Yu;Yeongshik Kim;Hyeungchul Kim;Seokyeon Im
    • Tribology and Lubricants
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    • v.40 no.2
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    • pp.61-66
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    • 2024
  • Micro-plastics are synthetic high-differentiation chemicals of less than 5mm in size, and are deposited not only on the sea surface but also on the coast. If these micro-plastics are not properly separated from the sand, they can threaten marine ecosystems. Thus, in the present study, we aimed to apply cyclone separator to the micro-plastic retrieval in order to predict the movement of particles according to the formation of the cyclone separator by applying the centrifugal force of the particle in accordance with the rotational movement of the air. The cyclone separator has three shapes, the first one is a typical interconnected cyclone separator. The second is the horn form, except for the cylinder in a regular cyclone separator, and the third is a form that increases the horn's height twice in the second. The numerical analysis simulation of the Cyclone separator used the Fluent software package. The output speed of the Cyclone separator was 5 to 13m/s at 1m/s intervals. The simulated particles include sand, Styrofoam, PET, PP, and PU. Sand particles are assigned a fixed diameter of 2mm, while other particles have a diameter of 3mm. As a result of the analysis, the first form was not separated from plastic. The Styrofoam separation efficiency in the second showed its highest efficiency at 72.7% at 7m/s, and the efficiency decreased after 12m/s as the sand particles were mixed into the plastic attachment location. In the third form, the separation efficiency of Styrofoam at 12m/s was highest at 67.9%.

Waste Management in the Era of Sustainable Development Goals : The EU's Plastics Strategy (SDGs시대의 폐기물관리 : EU의 플라스틱 전략)

  • Park, Sang-Woo
    • Journal of Korea Society of Waste Management
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    • v.35 no.8
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    • pp.683-691
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    • 2018
  • The plastic strategy adopted by the EU in January 2018 was established to implement circular economic policies and the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) of the United Nations. The strategy includes the vision and implementation measures to achieve, which are primarily measures to improve recycling and increase demand for recycled plastics. The representative measures include the design that considers recycling possibilities, reinforcement of demand for recycled plastics, suppression of occurrence, and response to micro-plastics. The policies to implement these measures include legislative restrictions and economic measures (EPR, GPP). It is especially desirable that the policies are applied differently depending on the plastic product. The Korean government has established comprehensive measures for all stages from production to recycling, but those measures are not comprehensive compared to the EU's strategy. The reason is that the refusal of waste collection makes the Korean government establish the approach from the aspect of waste management instead of the implementation of a circular economy or SDGs like the EU. The countermeasures are aimed at achieving a 50% reduction in waste generation amount and a 70% recycling rate. It is considered that the possibility of achieving the goal will increase by examining the measures and policy means in the EU's plastics strategy.