Short description:

In this timely handbook, one of a series of three, leading contributors from around the world offer practical insights into the challenges and opportunities for using various technologies to tackle microplastic pollution and improve microplastic management in aquatic environments.

Long description:

In this timely handbook, one of a series of three, leading contributors from around the world offer practical insights into the challenges and opportunities for using various technologies to tackle microplastic pollution and improve microplastic management in aquatic environments. 

Through this book, readers will gain a deep understanding of microplastic pollution in both freshwater and marine environments and strategies and technologies to combat and manage this. To provide readers with this knowledge, the book is divided into four sections to explain microplastics in freshwater and marine environments and the impact of biofilm on microplastic pollution. The contributors first describe the characteristics of microplastics and their identification, roles in the pollution of aquatic environments, and impacts. They also describe microplastics in freshwater and marine environments through the use of case studies from both developing and developed countries from North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. An introduction is provided at the beginning of each chapter for those interested in a brief synopsis, and copious references are provided for those wishing to study each chapter topic in greater detail. This book furnishes readers with the knowledge to reduce microplastics and prevent their improper disposal, which will prevent its intrusion and impact on biodiversity and ecosystems around the world and will also minimize economic losses caused by this emerging pollutant. For a wider perspective, readers are encouraged to refer to the other two titles in this series, subtitled Microplastic Pollution in the Soil and Monitoring and Treatment of Microplastics and Policy Perspectives.

In its exploration of the relationships among the characteristics of microplastics, their mobility, transport pathways, and treatment, this handbook represents a vital practical guide for academics, industry-based researchers, and policymakers that paves the ways for a new direction of water technology for future wastewater treatment.

Table of Contents:

1. Microplastics pollution: Distribution and sources in aquatic environment  2. Role of microplastics as anthropogenic pollutants in aquatic ecosystems  3. Hazard posed by additives to plastics upon disintegration as microplastics  4. Migration, pathways and management of MPs through Remote Sensing and GIS techniques  5. Sources, mechanisms, and interactions of microplastics with abiotic and biotic factors in aquatic environment  6. Interactions between microplastics and dissolved organic matter in freshwater environment  7. Surface waters and sediments of an urban lake are contaminated with microplastics  8. Microplastics pollution in surface waters and sediments of urban lake  9. Impacts of microplastics as contaminants on freshwater ecosystem and human food chain  10. Fate, distribution, transport pathways (vertical or horizontal) of microplastics in freshwater  11. Biofilm (eco-corona) formation from microplastics in freshwater  12. Role of biofilms in the degradation of microplastics  13. Microplastic-associated biofilm and its role in the fate of microplastics in aquatic environments  14. Artificial intelligence (AI) to trace the pathways of MPs  15. Microplastic removal from wastewater using biochar-based composites  16. Degradation of microplastics in the aquatic environment by advanced oxidation process  17. Adsorption of pollutants on microplastics in freshwater  18. Microplastics in Rivers from Developing Countries: Current Knowledge and Cost-effective Analysis Methodology Suggestions  19. The Effects of Microplastics on the Human Food Chain and Freshwater Ecosystem  20. Microplastics in Tunisian aquatic ecosystems: Current research trends, knowledge gaps, and prospects  21. Chapter Microplastic removal from wastewater using biochar-based composites  22. Microplastic Pollution in the Environment: Microplastic in Fresh and Drinking Water  23. Microplastic Pollution in the Environment: Microplastic in Urban and Rural Environment  24. Microplastic pollution in the marine environment and its potential effects on aquatic organisms  25. Microplastic pollution in the marine environment and its potential effects on aquatic organisms  26. Microplastic Contamination in Common Salt from Seawater: Global Insights, Health Implications, and Mitigation Strategies  27. Microplastics in the Mediterranean Sea  28. Microplastic Pollution in the Environment: Microplastic in Marines and Oceans  29. Remote sensing application for monitoring microplastic in aquatic environment: current approaches, challenges, detection techniques and way forward