Microplastics elutriation system. Part A: Numerical modeling

The elutriation process has shown its efficiency to extract microplastics from sand and began to spread in the scientific community. This extraction technic requires knowing with accuracy the extraction velocities of particles. This study aims to test whether numerical modeling could help to calcula...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine pollution bulletin Vol. 119; no. 2; pp. 151 - 161
Main Authors: Kedzierski, Mikaël, Le Tilly, Véronique, Bourseau, Patrick, Bellegou, Hervé, César, Guy, Sire, Olivier, Bruzaud, Stéphane
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England Elsevier Ltd 30.06.2017
Elsevier
Subjects:
Elutriation
Engineering Sciences
Environmental Monitoring
equations
Extraction technics
Fluid velocity
hydrodynamics
mathematical models
Microplastics
Models, Theoretical
Numerical modeling
Plastics
Sand
Silicon Dioxide
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Numerical modeling
Microplastics
Extraction technics
Sand
Fluid velocity
Elutriation
ISSN:0025-326X, 1879-3363, 1879-3363
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The elutriation process has shown its efficiency to extract microplastics from sand and began to spread in the scientific community. This extraction technic requires knowing with accuracy the extraction velocities of particles. This study aims to test whether numerical modeling could help to calculate these velocities. From hydrodynamic equations, a numerical model has been developed and the outputs are compared to experimental extraction data. The results show, for the calculated velocities, the experimental plastic extraction yields will be higher than 90% for <10% of sand contamination. The model also allows determining that, with the actual protocol, the maximum plastic density which can be extracted is about 1450kg·m−3 whereas the detrimental resuspension, which may occur during the column filling step, is highlighted. From model calculations, it arises that changes in the column dimensioning and the protocol operations need to be considered. •The elutriation column is one of the best tools currently available for extracting plastics from sand.•Developing a system using the elutriation technic is a scientific and technical issue.•A numerical approach has been developed for optimizing the elutriation efficiency.•The fluid velocity and the influence of the particle density and shape have been studied.•This modeling allows designing the column dimensioning and adjusting the parameter setting.
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ISSN:0025-326X
1879-3363
1879-3363
DOI:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.04.060