Organic materials such as bark and biochar can be effective filter materials to treat stormwater. However, the efficiency of such filters in retaining microplastics (MPs) – an emerging stormwater pollutant – has not been sufficiently studied. This study investigated the removal and transport of a mixture of MPs commonly associated with stormwater. Different MP types (polyamide, polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene) were mixed into the initial 2 cm material of horizontal bark and biochar filters of 25, 50, and 100 cm lengths. The MP types consisted of spherical and fragmented shapes in size ranges of 25–900 µm. The filters were subjected to a water flow of 5 mL/min for one week, and the total effluents were analyzed for MPs by µFTIR imaging. To gain a deeper insight, one 100 cm bark filter replica was split into 10 cm segments, and MPs in each segment were extracted and counted. The results showed that MPs were retained effectively, ¿97 Also see: https://micro2024.sciencesconf.org/548213/document

In MICRO 2024: Plastic Pollution from MACRO to nano