Advanced oxidation of microplastics: From surface modification to mineralization

MUNOZ, MACARENA; ORTIZ, DAVID; NIETO-SANDOVAL, JULIA; DI LUCA, CARLA; MARTÍNEZ DE PEDRO, ZAHARA; CASAS, JOSÉ A.

Cusco

Conferencia; 5th Iberoamerican Conference on Advanced Oxidation Technologies; 2022

Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Lima, Perú

This work aims at evaluating the fate of microplastics (MPs) along Fenton  oxidation.  For  such  goal,  realistic  MPs  obtained  from commercial plastic products of five  polymer types (PET, PE, PVC, PP and EPS)  were tested. Slight MPs  weight losses  (~10%) were achieved  after  Fenton  oxidation.  Nevertheless,  MPs  suffered important  changes  in  their  surface  due  to  the  introduction  of oxygenated  groups,  which  made  them  more  acidic  and hydrophilic.  Remarkably,  MPs  progressively  reduced  their  size along  the  treatment.  In  fact,  the  particles  can  be  completely oxidized  to  CO2,  as  demonstrated  in  the  oxidation  of PS nanoplastics  (140  nm),  where  70%  mineralization  was  reached. Notably, the leachates obtained  upon MPs oxidation  were quickly oxidized,  and  these  species were  also  more  biodegradable  than the released from the fresh solids. This knowledge opens the door for the optimization of this technology either for water treatment or for analytical purposes (MPs isolation).