Microplastics have been in the spotlight, with growing evidence on their harmful impact on marine ecosystems, food chains, and potential long-term human health. At the heart of this crisis lies growing global plastic demand, production, and consumption, coupled with insufficient considerations of plastic circularity and sustainability. Despite six rounds of negotiations to establish a global plastics treaty aimed at curbing plastic pollution, talks reached a stalemate last month. This highlights the urgent need for the development of efficient microplastic capture technologies to tackle microplastic pollution. IDTechEx’s dedicated report Microplastics 2025: Regulations, Technologies, and Alternatives looks at the emerging technologies to capture and filter microplastics, covering physical, chemical, and biological processes, and the players at the forefront of developing these solutions.
Examples of pathways for primary and secondary microplastics to enter the environment. Image Credit: IDTechEx
Microplastics are generally defined as solid plastic particles of diameter 5 mm or less. They don't necessarily have to be spherical, they can be of different shapes or can even be fibers. There are several complex pathways through which microplastics enter the environment and tackling this requires multi-pronged approaches. Once they are in the environment, microplastics are persistent and bioaccumulate, and very difficult to capture.
For example, plastic pellets or nurdles are considered one of the major sources of microplastics in the environment. According to the ISO 472:2013 definition, pellets are “a small preformed molding material, having relatively uniform dimensions in a given lot, used as feedstock in molding and extrusion operations”. Typically, ~80 % of plastic raw materials produced are of size 2 mm - 5 mm in diameter, with 20 % being even smaller.
During industrial use, pellets are easy to lose when handled poorly or when contained inadequately, leading to discharge into the environment and waterways during transportation and use. Owing to the small size and high mobility, it is extremely challenging to recapture or run clean-up operations once the pellets are in the environment, where they can also be mistaken for food by organisms and animals. Thus, installation of adequate capture technologies at pellet handling facilities and industrial wastewater treatment plants is crucial to recover mishandled pellets before they are leaked into the environment.
Emerging removal technologies to tackle microplastics pollution. Image Credit: Microplastics 2025: Regulations, Technologies, and Alternatives by IDTechEx
Emerging Processes To Remove Microplastics
Removal technologies can be deployed directly at emission sources (point sources) where they can capture directly. These systems can capture microplastics present in industrial effluents from industries such as textile manufacturing, pellet manufacturers, plastic product producers, etc. The three main technology types being developed include physical processes, chemical processes, and also biological processes.
Examples of physical processes include filtration, for which pile cloth media filters (PCMs) are widely used in wastewater treatment for applications such as removal of solid adsorbents and particulates from effluents. PCMs utilize pile yarns that are firmly attached to a supporting mesh to form a 3D structure. During filtration, suspended solids are captured within the depth of pile owing to intricate flow paths that trap particles of various sizes and shapes. PCMs are also being explored for its applicability to remove microplastics, by players such as MITA Water Technologies, Huber, and Aqua-Aerobic Systems. However, removal efficiency for small particle sizes, especially nanoplastics are not well established.
IDTechEx’s dedicated report Microplastics 2025: Regulations, Technologies, and Alternatives evaluates several emerging technologies. An example is the use of nano-Fe2O3 particles that attract microplastics to form aggregates, and can be separated using an externally applied magnetic field. The magnetic particles can also be regenerated for recirculation. This technology is being developed by Captoplastic, a Spanish start-up that secured EUR3 million in investment to scale its technology and support its growth in November 2024. However, it is worth considering that this requires the addition of nanoparticles or magnetic materials to effluents, which need to subsequently be removed with high efficiency. Although Captoplastic claims that its technology can recover over 94 % of the magnetite used in the process, this can still yield significant leakage to the environment when operating at scale. Other filtration technologies are also being developed by players such as Enviropod, PolyGone, and others.
Chemical processes such as using adsorbents or absorbents, coagulation and oxidation processes, or biological processes such as microbial or enzymatic breakdown are also being developed for microplastic capture and removal. However, these are generally at exploratory stages, most progressing to proof-of-concept level.
IDTechEx Outlook
In general research and development of microplastics separation technologies are still in their early stages. Although existing water treatment methods such as sand filtration, and other forms of plastic filtration may apply to microplastics, the absence of standardized analytical testing has limited the quantitative understanding of their effectiveness. Moreover, most current filtration technologies are primarily effective for larger particles and may fail to capture smaller microplastics or nanoplastics. Additional challenges arise from variations in the removal efficiency based on the type, size, shape, and density of microplastics, all of which influence removal performance.
IDTechEx’s recent report on Microplastics 2025: Regulations, Technologies, and Alternatives provides a global overview of current and proposed regulations, identifies key sources of microplastic pollution, and examines leading-edge developments in detection, capture, and filtration technologies. This includes overview of players at the forefront of developing solutions. The report also evaluates promising material alternatives and delivers critical insights into market trends, ongoing challenges, and the future outlook for stakeholders navigating this emerging field.