Microplastic pollution is one of the most urgent and complex environmental challenges, with significant consequences for human health. Understanding how microplastics are obtained from common consumer pieces and how they behave in the environment is crucial to ensure their removal. To explore this further, we propose a simple fluid dynamic model that simulates the behavior of polymeric particles of various densities in stagnant or agitated medium, in order to investigate the settling behavior of microplastics as a function of their size. Specifically, a polypropylene yarn was produced by Rheologic 1000 capillary rheometer; the yarn was gradually inserted into a distilled water vortex generated by magnetic stirring, which ensured that the yarn was wrapped to obtain a spherical fluff few centimeters wide. The fluff produced was then used to filter a suspension of microplastics obtained by weathering of polypropylene pasta bags.
The filtration process ensured high removal efficiency, especially for larger particles. In fact, particle size distribution before and after filtration was evaluated by Dynamic Light Scattering, confirming that the smallest particles remain in the filtrate.
This study highlights the behavior of microplastics from consumer products and the potential of polymeric systems produced by this combined process in reducing microplastic pollution, setting the stage for future developments in water purification using low-impact technologies.