Abstract
Based on a new concept for the sustainable removal of microplastics from freshwater systems, a case study for a pH-induced agglomeration and subsequent removal of polyethylene and polypropylene particles from water is presented. The two-step-based process includes firstly a localization and secondly an aggregation of microplastic particles (250–350 μM) in a physicochemical process. The research describes a strong increase in the particle size independent of pH of the aquatic milieu induced by the addition of trichlorosilane-substituted Si derivatives. The resulting Si-based microplastic aggregates (particle size after aggregation is 2–3 cm) could be easily removed by use of, e.g., sand traps. Due to the effect that microplastic particles form agglomeration products under every kind of process conditions (e.g., various pH, various polymer concentrations), the study shows a high potential for the sustainable removal of particles from wastewater.
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The research projects of Wasser 3.0 (www.wasserdreinull.de) are conducted by means of the financial support by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy through the provision of ZIM (Central Innovation Program for SME) project funds. The enterprise abcr GmbH (www.abcr.de) from Karlsruhe (GERMANY) is directly involved in the project as an industrial partner for the material science scale-up. IR spectra are provided by SAS Hagmann (www.sas-hagmann.de) from Horb am Neckar (GERMANY).
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Herbort, A.F., Sturm, M.T. & Schuhen, K. A new approach for the agglomeration and subsequent removal of polyethylene, polypropylene, and mixtures of both from freshwater systems – a case study. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 15226–15234 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1981-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1981-7