IDENTIFICATION OF PRESENCE AND EFFICIENCY REMOVAL OF MICROPLASTICS IN COAGULATION–FLOCCULATION, SEDIMENTATION, AND FILTRATION UNIT IN CIBEUREUM WATER TREATMENT PLANT WITH CIBEUREUM RIVER AS THE RAW WATER

• Main Author: Amara Febrianty, Kenisha
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Teknik saniter dan perkotaan; teknik perlindungan lingkungan
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/61552
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Microplastic is a type of plastic fragment that has a length of less than 5 mm. As a persistent pollutant, the presence of microplastics has been reported to be detected in waters such as seas, lakes, fresh water, rivers, and treated water at drinking water treatment plants (WTP). This study aims to identify the presence of microplastics in the Cibeureum WTP with Cibeureum River as the raw water which has potential for the presence of microplastics. The analysis carried out included identification of microplastic characteristics and validation of microplastics based on the type of polymer. In addition, an analysis was carried out on the efficiency of microplastic removal at the processing unit at the Cibeureum WTP, specifically for the coagulation–flocculation unit, sedimentation unit, and filtration unit. The results of this study showed that the average presence of microplastics in the raw water is 20.22 particles/L, while based on the inlet of the processing unit, the average microplastic presence in the coagulation–flocculation unit is 26.67 particles/L, the sedimentation unit is 30.17 particles/L, and the filtration unit of 17.17 particles/L. The presence of microplastic based on its shape overall was dominated by fiber shape by 19.54 particles/L, while based on color was dominated by transparent and black colors by 7.54 particles/L and 7.46 particles/L. Based on its size, overall dominated by the size of 300 µm – 1000 µm by 18.4 particles/L. The results of identification of the polymer types were found polymer plastic low–density polyethylene (LDPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polyamide or nylon (PA). Non–plastic polymers were also found in the form of natural fibers such as cotton, sisal, flax, and semi–synthetic fiber rayon. The efficiency removal of microplastics in the coagulation–flocculation unit is still not optimal due to an increase of the presence of microplastics, while the efficiency removal in the sedimentation unit reaches a percentage of 35.62%, and in the filtration unit it reaches a percentage of 40.78%. The overall efficiency of microplastic removal at the Cibeureum WTP processing unit reached 49.73%.