A massive amount of plastic waste is released into the environment every year. These plastics degrade anthropogenically and naturally, resulting in fragments of plastics smaller than 5 mm in size, known as microplastics (MPs). The imminence levels of MPs accumulated in aquatic systems can pass into animal organs and cause health concerns, posting threats to life on earth. A broad range of sizes of MPs is found in the environment. Most MPs are large and suspended in aqueous media with different densities. Current MPs removal methods are ineffective for removing all MP sizes and types simultaneously, and they are not real-time or cost-effective. New isolation methods for MPs of varying sizes suspended in aqueous media with different densities must be explored to overcome these limitations. Acoustic forces can be used to manipulate particles suspended in aqueous media. Applying acoustic waves across a resonating chamber generates acoustic radiation forces on particles flowing through the chamber. These forces can focus particles onto different planes of the acoustic wave. In this presentation, we will discuss the development of acoustic devices made of steel tubes that can be used to remove various MP types and sizes suspended in aqueous media with varying densities. We will show the unique behavior of MPs of the same material yet different sizes in an applied acoustic field. We will also show the effect of medium density on particle focusing. Finally, we will discuss how we utilize these findings to design an acoustofluidic separation method to isolate the three most common MPs types in nature.

Removal of environmentally relevant microplastics using acoustic forces and steel tubes

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