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Chemosphere 296 (2022) 133976

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Chemosphere
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chemosphere

Extraction, identification, and environmental risk assessment of


microplastics in commercial toothpaste
Chidhambaram T. Madhumitha a, Natchimuthu Karmegam b, Muniyandi Biruntha c,
Alagarsamy Arun d, Abdulaziz A. Al Kheraif e, Woong Kim f, **, Ponnuchamy Kumar a, *
a
Toxicogenomics and Systems Toxicology Lab, Department of Animal Health and Management, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, 630 003, Tamil Nadu, India
b
Department of Botany, Government Arts College (Autonomous), Salem, 636 007, Tamil Nadu, India
c
Vermitechnology Laboratory, Department of Animal Health and Management, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, 630 003, Tamil Nadu, India
d
Department of Microbiology, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, 630 003, Tamil Nadu, India
e
Dental Health Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box: 10219, Riyadh, 11433, Saudi Arabia
f
Department of Environmental Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, 41566, Republic of Korea

H I G H L I G H T S G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T

• Commercial branded toothpastes


invariably contained microplastics
(MPs).
• MPs in toothpaste filtrates were
confirmed with microscopic and FTIR
analyses.
• A size range of 100–399 μm MPs was
dominated in toothpastes.
• Fragmentary MPs contributed to
63–98% followed by 2–35% fibrous
MPs.
• Average MPs emission for India was
calculated as 1.4 billion g/year.

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Handling Editor: Venkatramanan Senapathi Microplastics in personal care and food products are given much importance globally due to the adverse impact
of microplastics on living beings. In the present study, microplastics from ten different commercially sold
Keywords: toothpaste in India were extracted by vacuum filtration and characterized with microscopic and Fourier-
Microplastics transform infrared spectroscopic analyses. Results revealed that colorless fragments and fibers were the micro­
Toothpaste
particle types of common occurrence which ranged from 0.2 to 0.9% weight in the toothpaste with an abundance
Polyethylene
range of 32.7–83.2%. Fifty percent of the toothpaste samples showed more than 50% microplastic particle
Cellophane
Risk assessment abundance indicating that the microplastic plastic particles were added by the manufacturers. The minimum size
of microplastics recorded in the present study was 3.5 μm with a maximum size exceeding 400 μm. The
maximum number of microplastics in the toothpaste was 167, 508 and 193 respectively, distributed in the size
range of <100 μm, 100–400 μm, and >400 μm. The present study recorded four major polymer types, viz.,
cellophane, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, and polyamide in the toothpaste samples. Surprisingly,
polyethylene-a common polymer reported in toothpaste was not traced in the present samples. Regarding the
Indian context, the current study is a new addition to the knowledge of the occurrence of microplastics in

* Corresponding author.
** Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: elshine@knu.ac.kr (W. Kim), kumarp@alagappauniversity.ac.in (P. Kumar).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.133976
Received 14 September 2021; Received in revised form 14 January 2022; Accepted 11 February 2022
Available online 14 February 2022
0045-6535/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
C.T. Madhumitha et al. Chemosphere 296 (2022) 133976

toothpaste. The average annual addition of microplastics into the environment through toothpaste was calcu­
lated as 1.4 billion g/year for India, posing a significant threat to the environment.

1. Introduction environment besides treatment sludge disposal issues (Kittipongvises


et al., 2022). PE is the most common microplastic type in toothpaste
The plastic particle size range of <5 mm is generally known as reported to cause tissue alterations in exposed mussel, Mytilus gallopro­
microplastics (Thompson et al., 2004). Microplastics are the emerging vincialis (Bråte et al., 2018). Further, the investigation revealed that the
contaminants in the ecosystem which are given much attention globally size, shape and weathering are known to influence the uptake of
due to their detrimental effect (Guo et al., 2020; Vieira et al., 2021). microplastics by aquatic organisms. Hence it is appropriate to establish a
Current research reveals that microplastics are omnipresent in the scientific intervention on the characterization of microplastics in
environment mainly due to the extensive use of plastic commodities, toothpaste and their environmental risk assessment in the Indian
which reach the soil and aquatic ecosystems through several routes as a context. A universally workable risk assessment is a foremost require­
contaminant and, consequently, engender hazards to living beings ment in the context of microplastics in the environment (Duis and Coors,
(Huang et al., 2021; Manikanda Bharath et al., 2021; Yang et al., 2021). 2016). Based on these facts, the present study has been carried out with
Due to the rising production of plastics on global demand, mismanage­ the following objectives: (i) to extract and quantify the microplastics
ment of wastes, and the least degradation rate, the accumulation of associated with commonly sold toothpaste, (ii) to explore the size,
microplastics in the environment increases at an alarming speed (UNEP, shape, abundance, and type of microplastics in toothpaste, (iii) to
2018; Huang et al., 2021). The aquatic ecosystem (marine and fresh­ identify the chemical nature of microplastics and (iv) to estimate the
water) is the most vulnerable regime affected by microplastics environmental risk of microplastics addition from toothpaste into the
contamination. Moreover, rivers, lakes, estuaries, coastal and marine environment.
sediments serve as reservoirs of microplastics (Díaz-Jaramillo et al.,
2021; He et al., 2021; Mao et al., 2021; Patchaiyappan et al., 2021). 2. Materials and methods
Microplastics are formed from macroplastics that are released into the
environment through physical, chemical, and biological degradation 2.1. Collection and processing of toothpaste
processes (Niu et al., 2021; Zhang et al., 2021). Microplastics alone or in
combination with co-occurring contaminants with altered properties Ten commercially available toothpaste samples were collected from
can accumulate and cause toxicological effects in the exposed organisms supermarkets in India and were designated from A to J. The size of the
(Bhagat et al., 2021; Enfrin et al., 2020). pack ranged between 50 and 150 g and was used as received. For each
Microplastics exist in diverse groups of polymeric forms, such as brand, triplicates were used for the extraction of microplastics. It was
polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate ensured that the usage of glass beakers and funnels rather than plas­
(PET), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and others origi­ ticware to devoid plastic contamination. For purification and filtration,
nating from different sources and find their occurrence in different 5 μm pore size cellulose nitrate filter paper was used. Milli-Q water was
products (Koutnik et al., 2021). Apart from soil and aquatic sources, the used to perform control experiments. All the glassware was washed with
occurrence of physically and chemically varying microplastics have Milli-Q water filtered with 0.42 μm syringe filters before the start of the
been reported from different commercially available products: table experiment.
salts (Sivagami et al., 2021); soft drinks, energy drinks, cold tea and beer
(Shruti et al., 2020); commercial fishes (Daniel et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2.2. Extraction of microplastics
2020a) and mussels (Nalbone et al., 2021); packaged meat (Kedzierski
et al., 2020); drinking water, beverages and food sources (Mortensen The extraction of microplastics from toothpaste was adopted as re­
et al., 2021); commercial seaweed-nori (Li et al., 2020); food containers ported Ustabasi and Baysal (2019). Toothpaste weighing 10 g in tripli­
(Du et al., 2020); personal care and cosmetic products (Kalčíková et al., cates was allowed to stir in 500 mL of Milli-Q water. To ensure the
2017; Lei et al., 2017; Sun et al., 2020). dissolving of solids the contents were heated at 50 ◦ C for about 30 min.
Current researchers project that the world scenario of microplastic Later the dissolved mixture was left undisturbed for 30 min at room
emission from 2015 to 2060 would increase three-fold and arrive up to temperature for the filtration to begin. The supernatant obtained was
170–270 million tons/year (Lebreton and Andrady, 2019). Considerable subjected to vacuum filtration using 0.5 μm pore-size cellulose filter
scientific and public attention is concentrated on personal care products paper. At the end of the filtration, the filter paper was removed and dried
(PCPs) and their global contribution to microplastic environmental at 50 ◦ C using a hot air oven for 7–8 h. Further, the filter papers were
pollution due to the strong expansion of PCPs use (Duis and Coors, 2016; scrapped to remove deposited solids and the same was dissolved in 50
Atugoda et al., 2021). A significant part of microplastics pollution is mL of Milli-Q water. Based on the density, the microplastics tend to
contributed by PCPs, accounting for 1500 tons/year in the aquatic retain in the surface water was collected and used for further
environment worldwide, which would effectuate up to 12,000 tons/year examination.
(Sun et al., 2020). Besides, it has been estimated in Malaysia and
Istanbul that the average microplastics addition to the environment 2.3. Microscopic observation
through PCPs range between 0.003 and 0.199 trillion g/year (Praveena
et al., 2018; Ustabasi and Baysal, 2019). However, the observational The flocks obtained from the study were visualized under bright field
evidence for microplastics in PCPs such as toothpaste and soaps is microscopy to unravel the size and shape of the microplastics. One step
insignificantly studied globally and is given the least attention (Sun further, microplastics were stained with Nile red dye and examined
et al., 2020). Microplastics in toothpaste have been reported occasion­ under a fluorescence microscope for better visualization and
ally from countries like, Australia, Canada, Istanbul, Malaysia, Sweden, characterization.
and The USA (Praveena et al., 2018; Ustabasi and Baysal, 2019; Sun
et al., 2020). For developing countries like India, PCPs, especially 2.4. Polymer identification
toothpaste is not explored for the prevalence and types of microplastics.
Even though the wastewater treatment systems are effective, micro­ To unravel the type of polymer, selected fragments of microplastics
plastics can permeate and eventually increase the load in the were subjected to FTIR (PerkinElmer, Frontiers FTIR) coupled with

2
C.T. Madhumitha et al. Chemosphere 296 (2022) 133976

Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR). The output data were matched with
synthetic polymers of the ATR library for the identification of polymer.
In the present study, a match quality index of > = 0.7 was taken into
consideration and below <0.6 was subsequently rejected for evaluation.

2.5. Risk assessment

Risk assessment studies were carried out based on the working for­
mula as follows:
YME = D.U × POPInd × TPuse × OR × M.P. × Ndays

Whereas, YME – Yearly Microplastics Emission from any source.

D.U. – the number of Daily Use.


POPInd – Population of India.
TPuse – The amount of toothpaste required for single use.
OR – occurrence ratio of microplastics in the total number of samples
M.P. – microplastics percentage in the sample
Fig. 1. Particle size abundance of microplastics in toothpaste. *, ** and ***
Ndays – number of days in a year indicate significant difference at P < 0.05, P < 0.01 and P < 0.001 from control;
ns – not significant.
2.6. Statistical analysis
PCPs greatly fluctuate subject to the type of product (Cheung and Fok,
All the experiments used in the study were carried out in triplicates 2017). Similar to shape, the size of microplastics varied greatly within
and the values were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. One-way the different size distribution classes categorized. The size distribution
analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to calculate homogenous and of microplastics was classified into <100 μm, 100–400 μm and >400 μm
heterogeneous variances among samples with a significant P-value at where the majority of the microplastics in toothpaste samples plunged
0.1, 1 and 5% levels. between 100 and 400 μm size (Fig. 2). A smaller size of 3.5 μm micro­
plastics was found in the present study. The number of particles of
3. Results and discussion 39–167, 178–508 and 17–193 was distributed within the particle size
range of <100 μm, 100–400 μm and >400 μm, respectively. Fragments
According to the recent literature, the facial cleanser is the well- were found to be the abundant particle types recorded in the toothpaste
studied PCP for microplastics even though there are several other followed by fibers. A maximum number (per g) of 98 fragments was
PCPs commonly used in day-to-day life, soaps, shampoo, shaving cream, observed in the toothpaste sample C followed by 84 (B, H and J) > 83
and toothpaste which are given the least attention while the studies (F) > 79 (E) > 76 (I) > 72 (A, D) > 63 (G), while the number of fiber
mainly focus on the concentration, physical properties and emission types observed was in the range of 2–35/g (Fig. 3). Besides, the number
characteristics of microplastics in PCPs (Praveena et al., 2018; Sun et al., of unknown types was 1–13/g which accounted for 80% of the tooth­
2020). In the present study, ten commercially sold toothpaste samples paste samples. Also, the light and fluorescent microscopic observations
were analyzed for the presence of microplastics. The results revealed revealed the nature and types of microplastics in commercial toothpaste
that all the toothpaste samples contained microplastics of different (Fig. 4). In PCPs like facial scrubs, body scrubs, and exfoliating bath gels,
kinds. The undissolved solids, floated particles, weight in the product white-colored irregular to spherical particles was found to be predom­
and abundance of particles in the toothpaste ranged from 0.194 to 0.488 inant in all the products, along with light to dark brown and blue color
g/10 g, 0.032–0.071 g/10 g, 0.2–0.9% and 327–832 particles/g, particles with an average size range between 264.49 and 551.39 (Godoy
respectively (Table 1). The percentage abundance of particles exhibited
a minimum of 32.7% and a maximum of 83.2% in toothpaste samples
(Fig. 1). Fifty percent of the toothpaste samples contained >50%
abundance of microplastic particles. Meanwhile, most microplastics
recorded were colorless. Microplastic particles in PCPs and cosmetics
exist in different forms ranging from spherical, irregular, fibrous, and
fragments.
The size, shape and composition of the microplastics in different

Table 1
Microplastics availability in toothpaste sold in India.
Samples Total Floated Weight in the Abundance of
used undissolved particles, g product, % particles, per g
solids, g

A 0.373 0.053 0.5 589 ± 123


B 0.334 0.049 0.4 529 ± 101
C 0.482 0.068 0.6 689 ± 203
D 0.488 0.071 0.7 798 ± 413
E 0.366 0.032 0.3 487 ± 217
F 0.194 0.029 0.2 327 ± 125
G 0.423 0.092 0.9 832 ± 105
H 0.379 0.049 0.4 423 ± 111
I 0.316 0.045 0.4 413 ± 124
J 0.198 0.034 0.3 349 ± 102
Fig. 2. Microplastics availability in toothpaste by size.

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C.T. Madhumitha et al. Chemosphere 296 (2022) 133976

were analyzed for the identification of polymers using FTIR. A match


percentage of 70% and above was considered an admissible range.
Accordingly, four major polymer types, cellophane (CP), polypropylene
(PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polyamide (PA) were identified in
the commercial toothpaste (Fig. 5). The microplastics type was identi­
fied by the stretching vibrations observed in the ATR-FTIR spectrum for
each type of microplastics (Table 2). Based on the invariable presence of
the abundant polymers, CP, PP, PVC and PA, it is evidenced that the
source of these polymers is the manufacturer of toothpaste. In general,
for replacing natural ingredients and for desirable market qualities,
microplastics of different shapes, sizes and compositions are added to
PCPs which serve as the main source of microplastics in the environment
(Cheung and Fok, 2017; Godoy et al., 2019; Zhou et al., 2020). PE is the
predominant type of microplastic found in surface water, table salts,
PCPs and cosmetics including toothpaste (Table 3). However, PE was not
recorded in the toothpaste samples analyzed in the present study, and
this might probably be because of the omission of PE in toothpaste by
manufacturers. According to the available literature on the occurrence
of microplastics reported from toothpaste reveal that PP is predomi­
nantly present as particles of different types followed by CP (Lei et al.,
2017; Praveena et al., 2018; Ustabasi and Baysal, 2019). In addition, PE
Fig. 3. Percentage of microplastics in toothpaste by type.
microplastics from toothpaste, both virgin and weathered, have been
shown to alter the structure of Mediterranean mussels’ gills and diges­
et al., 2019). The research studies reveal that the size range of micro­ tive tissues (Mytilus galloprovincialis) (Bråte et al., 2018). Similarly, Carr
plastics in PCPs widely range from 3 to 2188 μm (Bayo et al., 2017; et al. (2016) observed that the majority of toothpaste microplastics are
Godoy et al., 2019) where the particle size range of 200–460 μm is the blue-colored. Interestingly, the present study reports the occurrence of
optimal size range used in facial scrubs and bath gels (Lei et al., 2017). PP, PVC and PA for the first time in toothpaste samples.
The minimum size range of microplastics recorded in toothpaste was 3.5 Due to the low density and resilient hydrophobicity, PP microplastics
μm which is close to the size reported in PCPs (Godoy et al., 2019). The float on the surface of the water and PP microplastics discharged from
fact that the variation in the size range of microparticles in PCPs could PCPs and cosmetics reach wastewater treatment plants, finally end up in
be attributed to the extraction method and type of product, hence uni­ the environment as most of the wastewater treatment systems are
formity of size distribution could not be arrived at. ineffective in microplastics removal (Jiang et al., 2021; Uheida et al.,
It is well-known fact that FTIR is the comprehensively used method 2021). Owing to high hydrophobicity, thermal stability, molecular
to explore the existence of microplastics (Hahn et al., 2019; Sivagami weight and surface roughness, PP degradation in the aquatic medium is
et al., 2021). The subsets of microplastics separated from the toothpaste

Fig. 4. (I) Light and (II) Fluorescence microscopic images of microplastics in toothpaste.

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C.T. Madhumitha et al. Chemosphere 296 (2022) 133976

Fig. 5. FTIR spectra for the polymeric composition of the microplastics extracted from toothpaste. Representative FTIR spectrum for (A) Cellophane, (B) Polyamide,
(C) Polypropylene and (D) Polyvinyl chloride in toothpaste samples.

emission into the environment. The microplastic polymer, PCP’s pres­


Table 2
ence has been reported from the marine environment (water and sedi­
Microplastics identification with their respective stretching vibrations in FTIR
ment), fish, marine salts, toothpaste and facial scrub (Praveena et al.,
spectrum.
2018; Suresh et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2020b; Sivagami et al., 2021).
Polymer type Wavenumber Functional Reference
Also, PVC microplastics in considerable quantities are found to reach
groups
surface water, marine and beach sediments mainly due to anthropogenic
Cellophane 3000–2800 CH Akella et al. (2018) intervention (Zhao et al., 2015; Graca et al., 2017; Wu et al., 2019). The
cm− 1
present study findings add a new knowledge that toothpaste is a sig­
1454–1377 CH2 and CH3
cm− 1 nificant source for the microplastics, CP, PP, PVC and PA while the
Polyamide 3409–3225 NH Scopetani et al. remaining three are new additions to their occurrence in toothpaste.
cm− 1 (2019) Environmental risk factors of emerging pollutants like microplastics
2908 cm− 1 CH
1
is important for advancing the assessment (Duis and Coors, 2016).
1724-1596 cm− C=O
1598-1528 cm− 1
N–H and C–N Therefore, studies have also focused on the environmental risk assess­
Polypropylene 2931 cm− 1 CH Scopetani et al. ment of different sources of microplastics. In the present study, the
1715 cm− 1 C=O (2019) annual microplastic emission from toothpaste calculated for India
1458 cm− 1 CH2 reached a maximum value of 2.0 billion g/year with an average of 1.4
1377 cm− 1 CH3
billion g/year with a range between 0.8 billion and 2.0 billion (Table 4).
Polyvinyl 3083–2872 v(C–H) Tagg et al. (2015)
chloride cm− 1 The microplastics emission rate obtained for toothpaste in the present
1770–1700 v(C = O) study fell within the range of 0.22–3.0 billion g/year, reported for
cm− 1 Istanbul (Ustabasi and Baysal, 2019). These values were far below the
1450–1400 (C–H)
estimate reported for PCPs such as toothpaste and facial scrub which
cm− 1
contribute to the addition of 199 billon g/year into marine surroundings
(Praveena et al., 2018). It has also been reported that about 39 tons of
very low (Khoironi et al., 2020). Due to its persistent nature, PPin the microplastics are discharged into the environment exclusively from
aquatic and terrestrial environment causes hazards to living beings. For shower gels per year in China (Lei et al., 2017). The variation in
instance, the earthworm-soil experiment with PP (13 μm size) exposure microplastics emission rates indicates that the discharge of microplastics
showed severe effects on soil microbial diversity and community is dependent on the origin and type of PCPs.
structure while no profound effect was observed in the gut microbiota of
the earthworm, Metaphire guillelmi (Cheng et al., 2021), while PP exerts 4. Conclusions
size-dependent oxidative stress in Eisenia fetida along with the distur­
bance in neurodegeneration and inflammatory response pathways (Li The commercial toothpaste sold in India invariably contained
et al., 2021). Meanwhile, PP is reported to induce pro-inflammatory microplastics of different size classes, distribution and polymeric forms.
cytokines in a size and concentration-dependent manner (Hwang The occurrence of microplastic particles in toothpaste was 0.2–0.9% by
et al., 2019). These studies necessitate the identification of sources of PP weight where the fibers and fragments were the common types. Overall,
microplastics such as toothpaste and other PCPs to minimize the the abundance of microplastic particles per gram ranged from 327 to

5
C.T. Madhumitha et al. Chemosphere 296 (2022) 133976

Table 3 Table 4
Type, abundance and environmental impact of microplastics in different Risk assessment of microplastics from toothpaste released into the environment
sources. in India.
Source Particle Type of Abundance Remarks Reference Parameters Maximum Value Minimum Value Mean Value
studied type (Size, microplastics
μm) DU 2.0 1.0 1.5
POPind 1,352,642,280 1,352,642,280 1,352,642,280
Surface water Fiber, NS 0.7 to 9 items/L Source of Picó et al. TPuse, g 1.0 0.5 0.75
fragments contamination – (2020) OC 0.2 0.2 0.2
Wastewater from MP,% 0.9 0.3 0.6
factories,
domestic sewage YME for India, g 2 billion 0.8 billion 1.4 billion
and factories
Food Fragment, Rayon, 3-29 items/ Per capita intake Du et al.
containers fiber; (30 - acrylic, nylon, source of microplastics (2020) could be used as baseline data for the contribution of toothpaste to the
polyester, by container may
addition of microplastics in the environment and associated impacts.
>1000)
P⋅P., P⋅S., PE, range as many as
PET 203 items/week
Table salts Fiber PVA, PP, PE 0.67–3.42 Microplastics in Fadare CRediT authorship contribution statement
(93.8%); particles/kg table salts were et al.
(3.3–4660) from salt (2021)
production or Chidhambaram T. Madhumitha: Investigation, Formal analysis,
marine pollution; Methodology. Natchimuthu Karmegam: Conceptualization, Valida­
not from tion, Data curation, Writing – review & editing. Muniyandi Biruntha:
packages.
Sea salts Fragments, CP, PS, PA, <700 particles/ HEK-293 cells Sivagami
Methodology, Software, Validation. Alagarsamy Arun: Methodology,
fibers, PAR kg treated with et al. Data curation, Validation. Abdulaziz A. Al Kheraif: Methodology,
pellets; microplastics (2021) Software, Validation. Woong Kim: Methodology, Formal analysis,
(3.8–5200) showed the
Validation. Ponnuchamy Kumar: Conceptualization, Validation, Data
induction of
apoptosis curation, Writing – original draft, Supervision, Funding acquisition.
Personal care (200–461) PE 1.27–12.64 ≈39 tons of Lei et al.
products particles/g microplastics are (2017)
and estimated to be Declaration of competing interest
cosmetics discharged from
shower gels The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
annually into the
environment in
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
China the work reported in this paper.
Toothpaste Granular; LDPE, CP, PE 11,776–52,342 Estimated Praveena
and facial (3–178) particles/g microplastics of et al.
Acknowledgment
scrub (average) 0.199 trillion g (2018)
per year to be
released from The authors are thankful for the RUSA Scheme Phase 2.0 grant [F-24-
PCPs to oceanic 51/2014–U, Policy (TNMulti-Gen), Dept. of Education, Government of
surroundings in
Malaysia
India, dated October 09, 2018] for supporting the study. The authors
Toothpaste Particles of PE 0.25–4.17 g Estimated Ustabasi extend their appreciation to the Researchers Supporting Project number
different particles/10g microplastics of and (RSP-2021/31), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This work
size; (4–20) 220 million – 3 Baysal
was partly supported by the Korea Institute of Energy Technology
billion g per (2019)
annum to be Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korea govern­
introduced ment (MOTIE) (No. 20194110100100, Full-scale feasibility study of the
through stability and efficiency improvement of a biogas production facility
domestic
wastewater into
based on biomass from urban/living environments).
the environment
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