Abstract
Polymeric materials have had an exponential growth since the Second World War, so that in 2018 the annual world production was 359 million tons. This has generated a contamination problem because of its prolonged exposure to various chemical and environmental factors which have caused the formation of particles with a size less than 5 mm with a vast surface area and chemically stable and adjustable surface. For these reasons, these particles called microplastics (MPs) have been used as vectors for chemicals in the environment and, recently, in the removal of several pollutants from water.
In this chapter, some representative examples of the use of microplastics for sorption of contaminants from water (pharmaceuticals, metal ions, and other organic compounds) are shown. The chapter is organized into two parts: the first part addresses MPs of commercial origin (virgin) and those reused after being collected from field, while the second part addresses representative examples of MPs synthesized and/or functionalized with the purpose of uptaking specific contaminants.
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Pérez-Silva, I., Montesinos-Vázquez, T., Páez-Hernández, M.E. (2020). Remediation of Contaminated Waters with Microplastics. In: Rocha-Santos, T., Costa, M., Mouneyrac, C. (eds) Handbook of Microplastics in the Environment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10618-8_34-1
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