Degradation of Polyvinyl Alcohol in US Wastewater Treatment Plants and Subsequent Nationwide Emission Estimate

Charles Rolsky and Varun Kelkar
Additional contact information
Charles Rolsky: Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, 1001 S. McAllister Avenue, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
Varun Kelkar: Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, 1001 S. McAllister Avenue, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 11, 1-15

Abstract: Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a water-soluble plastic commercially used in laundry and dish detergent pods (LDPs) for which a complete understanding of its fate in the environment and subsequent consequences is lacking. The objective of this study was to estimate the US nationwide emissions of PVA resulting from domestic use of LDPs, corroborated by a nationwide, online consumer survey and a literature review of its fate within conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Peer-reviewed publications focusing on the degradation of PVA in critical processes of WWTPs were shortlisted as a part of the literature review, and subsequent degradation data was extracted and applied to a model with a set of assumptions. Survey and model results estimated that approximately 17,200 ± 5000 metric ton units per year (mtu/yr) of PVA are used from LDPs in the US, with 10,500 ± 3000 mtu/yr reaching WWTPs. Literature review data, when incorporated into our model, resulted in ~61% of PVA ending up in the environment via the sludge route and ~15.7% via the aqueous phase. PVA presence in the environment, regardless of its matrix, is a threat to the ecosystem due to the potential mobilization of heavy metals and other hydrophilic contaminants.

Keywords: biodegradation; dish detergent; laundry; mass loads; microbes; polyvinyl alcohol; wastewater (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/6027/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/6027/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:6027-:d:568445

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().