Estudio de microplásticos y principales contaminantes del agua

Abstract

[EN] Today humans are faced with a major environmental problem: water pollution. Micropollutants are substances in a microscale size that enter into the environment, altering the natural level of that substance. This study focuses on the pollution of water by some micropollutants, which are microplastics, pharmaceuticals, pesticides and heavy metals. In this thesis, a literature overview is done about each of this micropollutant, with a greater emphasis on microplastics. Fate and behaviour of microplastics with other micropollutants is studied through the adsorption, as well as migration of microplastics constituents. In addition, the presence of microplastics in food and in some organisms is analysed. On the other hand, legislation related to water pollution is presented as well as different strategies to try to reduce microplastic pollution are reviewed. At the end, ecotoxicity is defined, and the aquatic toxicity of micropollutants is studied.

[ES] Los microplásticos son contaminantes emergentes presentes en el agua en todo el mundo. En este estudio, se ha investigado la problemática de los contaminantes principales, centrándose en las fuentes y las estrategias de microplásticos relacionadas con la legislación. Además, otros contaminantes como productos farmacéuticos, pesticidas y metales pesados se relacionan con los microplásticos, y se describe también el comportamiento de la adsorción, lixiviación y ecotoxicidad de los microplásticos. Finalmente, se estudian diferentes metodologías para el análisis de microplásticos y su eliminación.