Detection of microplastic in tap water, Kampar, Perak

Fong, Rui Qian (2022) Detection of microplastic in tap water, Kampar, Perak. Final Year Project, UTAR.

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Abstract

Microplastic (MPs) have become a trendy environmental concern in recent decades because of their ubiquity in marine, freshwater, soil, and even human food chain and drinking water. However, the MPs research in Malaysia mainly focuses on environmental contexts and no research was reported on drinking water. This study focused on quantification and characterization of MPs in tap water, precisely in Kampar distinct of Perak State. Tap water samples were collected from three different location in Kampar within three consecutive days. The location included private institution (S1), household (S2) and discharge of water treatment plant (S3) for comparison of MPs occurrence in provider and end user. The analysis of MPs was performed using Nile Red (NR) stain visual sorting of MPs using fluorescent microscope. The experimental results reported that the concentration of MPs ranged from 169.7 ± 46.5, 179.3 ± 49.7 and 238.7 ± 48.3 MPs/L in the source of S1, S2 and S3 respectively. MPs smaller than 10 μm was predominant in all samples. The average size was reported as 8.4 ± 4.9, 2.7 ± 0.3 and 4.4 ± 1.6 μm for S1, S2 and S3 respectively. Nano sized plastics (< 1 μm) were also detected. Fragment shaped MPs was dominated in the water samples (55.3 – 60.0 %) followed by sphere (37.1 – 42.6 %) and fiber (1.0 – 3.4 %). Selected filtered samples were analyzed under ATR and SEM-EDX to determine the chemical composition, surface characteristic and elemental signature of MPs. Type of plastic determined were PET, PS/PA and PVC. Additional spectrum in fingerprint region indicated presence of additives in the MPs. This study indicated the existences of MPs in tap water and the unneglectable number of nano-plastics presences in tap water.

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