article · Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
Microplastics pose widespread environmental hazards to ecosystems, fauna, flora, and human health. To address this challenge, researchers developed a composite material combining amino-functionalised zeolite with phosphoric acid-treated coffee waste biochar to capture polystyrene microplastics from water. In experimental testing, the material extracted between 4.78 and 4.85 milligrams of microplastics per gram across temperatures ranging from 20 to 50 degrees Celsius. The removal process relies on a blend of chemical and physical adsorption mechanisms. These include electrostatic attraction alongside hydrophobic interactions between aromatic structures on the biochar and the microplastic particles. Surface analysis showed that functional chemical groups containing carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, aluminium, and silicon are primarily responsible for binding the particles. The findings indicate that this hybrid biochar material offers a viable option for treating microplastic contamination in both drinking water and wastewater systems.
Microplastic contamination represents a critical threat to global ecosystems and human health. Finding sustainable methods to purify water is essential. Using coffee waste biochar combined with functionalised zeolite offers a targeted way to clean microplastics from drinking water and wastewater, mitigating risks to human health, fauna, and flora.
The technology could enable water treatment operators and municipal water utilities to remove polystyrene microplastics from wastewater and drinking water streams. Because the testing was conducted under laboratory conditions measuring microplastic uptake in solutions, the work appears to be at an early stage of research and development, requiring further scaling and testing in operational treatment facilities.
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The problem of microplastics (MPs) in the environment has been an emerging concern to the world in recent times. This is because the migration of MPs in the environment has been identified as deleterious culprits of the entire ecosystem and by extension may cause a decrease in life expectancy and quality of life in humans, fauna, and flora. This threat is seriously militating against the continuous existence and well-being of the entire ecosystem. Therefore, this research attempts to provide a solution to this global problem through the application of amino-functionalized zeolite series/phosphoric acid-coffee waste biochar (AFZ) for the removal of polystyrene MPs in solutions, drinking water, and wastewater. Findings from this research showed that AFZ removed 4.78 to 4.85 mg g–1 of polystyrene MPs from solutions at 20 to 50 °C, respectively. This was achieved by a combination of chemisorption and physisorption mechanisms via hydrophobic interactions between the π-electrons of the sp2 carbon orbital and π–π aromatic moieties of AFZ and the π-electrons of the polystyrene MPs and electrostatic attraction between AFZ and polystyrene MPs, respectively. Surface characterization of AFZ before and after its uptake of polystyrene MPs revealed that functional moieties such as C–H, C–O, C=C, N–H, Al–O, and Si–O was majorly responsible for the adsorption process. Hence, this research revealed that AFZ has potential to treat polystyrene MP-contaminated drinking water and wastewater.
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.3c03971
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