Removal of microplastic in water through adsorbents impregnated with surfactants.
surfactante; microemulsion; microplastics; adsorption
Nowadays, plastics are increasingly present in everyday life, from the simplest object to the most complex. The environmental and health impacts, caused by uncontrolled production and inadequate disposal are serious to the point of estimating more plastics than fish in the oceans in 2050. Plastics, over time, tend to fragment, taking on smaller sizes. Microplastics are those between 25 µm and 5 mm in size. Assuming smaller sizes causes several complications, such as accumulation in the environment, inhalation through the air, adsorption of polluting organic compounds in water, and ingestion by some species of animals. The impacts on human health are still being studied further. Therefore, in the face of so many problems caused by these small particles, more studies and ways of treating effluents contaminated by this material are necessary. Based on this principle, surfactants are molecules that have a polar and a nonpolar part in their structure and, knowing that plastics are made up of polymers, large nonpolar carbon chains, it was thought to use a surface where the surfactants are adsorbed and, thus, they can efficiently interact with plastic particles in a solution. Therefore, five adsorbents were chosen: coconut, sugarcane, and banana peel bagasse, in addition to diatomite and bentonite; and impregnated with a microemulsion system that interacted better with the plastics. The application reached values of almost 80% of microplastic removed. Applying this study to a real situation, they can reduce the concentrations of plastic that contaminate rivers and lakes, thus decreasing the amount of plastic that reaches the ocean.