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Efficient photocatalytic mineralization of polymethylmethacrylate and polystyrene nanoplastics by TiO2/β-SiC alveolar foams

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Abstract

Household wastewaters contain microplastics and nanoplastics that end up in ecosystems because these pollutants are not filtered by current wastewater treatment plants. Therefore, there is a need for advanced removal technologies. Here, we tested the degradation of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and polystyrene (PS) nanoparticles by photocatalysis with TiO2–P25/β-SiC foams under UV-A radiation. We studied the effect of flow rate, initial pH and light intensity. Results show that about 50% of the carbon of polymethylmethacrylate nanobeads are degraded in 7 h at an irradiance of 112 W/m2, a flow rate of 10 mL/min and an initial pH of 6.3. Degradation is faster at low pH (4–6) and low flow rate. 140-nm polystyrene degrades faster than 508-nm polystyrene.

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Acknowledgements

The authors of this article thank Campus France for the Grant awarded to Paul Henri Alle.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Chimie Et Procédés pour l’Energie, l’Environnement et la Santé, UMR- CNRS 7515, Université de Strasbourg, 25 rue Becquerel, 67087, Strasbourg, France

    Paul Henri Allé, Nicolas Keller & Didier Robert

  2. Laboratoire des Procédés Industriels de Synthèse, de L’Environnement et des Energies Nouvelles (LAPISEN), Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny, BP1093, Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire

    Paul Henri Allé & Kopoin Adouby

  3. Department of Industrial Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industrial (ETSII), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Madrid, Spain

    Patricia Garcia-Muñoz

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  1. Paul Henri Allé
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  2. Patricia Garcia-Muñoz
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  3. Kopoin Adouby
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  4. Nicolas Keller
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  5. Didier Robert
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Correspondence to Didier Robert.

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Allé, P.H., Garcia-Muñoz, P., Adouby, K. et al. Efficient photocatalytic mineralization of polymethylmethacrylate and polystyrene nanoplastics by TiO2/β-SiC alveolar foams. Environ Chem Lett 19, 1803–1808 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-020-01099-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-020-01099-2

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