(180aw) Disinfection and Disintegration of Microplastics in Wastewater Using Corona Discharge: An overview of current applications and potential

The persistence of microplastics and pathogenic microorganisms in wastewater effluents presents an emerging dual challenge to environmental protection and public health. Conventional treatment methods including membrane filtration, adsorption, and chemical advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), demonstrate partial effectiveness but are hindered by secondary waste generation, chemical dependency, and operational costs. Corona discharge, a non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) technique, has recently gained attention as a chemical-free advanced oxidation approach capable of addressing both microplastic degradation and microbial inactivation. Under high-voltage excitation, corona discharge generates a localized plasma region enriched with reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS/RNS), including hydroxyl radicals (·OH), atomic oxygen (O), ozone (O₃), and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). These species induce polymer chain scission, surface oxidation, and fragmentation of microplastics such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyethylene terephthalate, while simultaneously damaging microbial cell membranes and genetic material. Reported mechanisms involve electron impact ionization, streamer propagation, and interfacial mass transfer of short-lived radicals into the aqueous phase. Literature further highlights reactor designs (needle-to-plate, pin-to-liquid, packed-bed), operating parameters (10–30 kV, 50–500 Hz), and diagnostic techniques (FTIR, TOC analysis, SEM) as critical to evaluating treatment performance. This review systematically examines current experimental evidence, compares corona discharge with conventional AOPs, and identifies gaps in kinetic modeling, scalability, and energy efficiency. By consolidating these findings, the study underscores corona discharge as a potential dual-function tertiary treatment technology for simultaneous microplastic disintegration and microbial disinfection, particularly in decentralized and resource-limited wastewater treatment settings.