Removing microplastics from tap water

On our previous blog, we’ve discussed what microplastics are and how they’ve found their way into our food chain, including our drinking water – both bottled and from the tap.

Although there are currently no known evidence on the dangers of microplastic ingestion for humans, given that it has just recently come to the fore, it is still better to be safe, than sorry – bringing us to the question: “How can we remove microplastics from our drinking water?”

The first and easiest step to take is stopping the consumption of bottled water.  A 2019 study published in the Environmental Science & Technology Journal (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.9b01517) has found that bottled water drinkers could be doubling the amount of microplastics they ingest compared to tap water drinkers.  

When it comes to tap water, these are the three most common filtration technologies that can either reduce or remove microplastics from tap water:

This is the type used in popular pitcher-type filters. It removes contaminants down to around 5 microns, so it can remove some, but not all microplastics. 

Carbon block filters are basically activated carbon that’s been tightly packed. It can be effective in filtering microplastics as it can filter out contaminants as small as 0.5 microns. Carbon filters are also commonly used to remove chlorine particles and other chemicals. 

Another technology used to remove microplastics from tap water is reverse osmosis. This method can effectively remove particles as small as 0.001 microns but is much more expensive and requires regular maintenance. 

As you can see, microplastics filtration boil down to how little a particle a filter can remove. IVO Water Purifier’s advanced 4-stage filtration process features granular activated carbon, as well as the unique hollow fiber membrane – the same technology used in dialyzers and artificial kidneys in the medical field. This medical-grade filtration technology can filter microorganisms and microscopic impurities as little as 0.1 micron. That means it can efficiently remove not just microplastics (<5mm to 1 micron), but sub-microplastics (<1 micron to 0.1 micron), as well! 

Who likes the idea of drinking plastic? Order your IVO Water Purifier today at www.ivotechnologies.com. 

IVO's advanced hollow fiber membrane technology has passed NSF/ANSI/CAN 42 standards and is fully NSF-certified. Filters have been tested according to Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) S3201.

IVO is manufactured by Toray Industries, makers of Torayvino, the number 1 faucet-mounted water purifier in Japan.