Effect of thermo-photocatalytic process using zinc oxide on degradation of macro/micro-plastic in aqueous environment

Nurul Ashraf Razali, . and Wan Rafizah Wan Abdullah, . and Nurafiqah Mohd Zikir, . Effect of thermo-photocatalytic process using zinc oxide on degradation of macro/micro-plastic in aqueous environment. pp. 1-14. ISSN 2672-7226

More than 320 million tons of plastics are produced annually and the rate of plastic waste generation steadily increases by 3.9 per year. Introduction of plastic waste into water bodies may lead to many adverse environmental impacts as the plastic debris is very stable and generally requires a longer time to degrade. Over a period of time bulk plastic debris will slowly degrade into small fragments known as macroplastics (particles size 5mm) and microplastics (particles size 5mm). Accumulation of this newly emerging class of pollutants potentially decreases the efficiency of the existing water treatment system. Therefore improvement on the existing water treatment technique is required. This study aimed at investigating the effect of using the UV-assisted thermo-photocatalytic reaction on the degradation of polypropylene (PP) macro- and microplastics in an aqueous environment for 6 hours. ZnO nanoparticles (50 nm) were employed as the photocatalyst. 23 Full Factorial design was carried out in order to identify the correlation between the reaction temperature (35-50 C) size of PP plastic (25-100 mm) and the catalyst dosage (1“3 g/L) factors and their influences on the weight loss of macro/micro-plastics. Maximum plastic weight loss of 7.8 wt was achieved at 50C 1 g/L ZnO and 25 mm of PP plastic. The interaction between temperature and size must be taken into consideration.

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Abstract

More than 320 million tons of plastics are produced annually and the rate of plastic waste generation steadily increases by 3.9 per year. Introduction of plastic waste into water bodies may lead to many adverse environmental impacts as the plastic debris is very stable and generally requires a longer time to degrade. Over a period of time bulk plastic debris will slowly degrade into small fragments known as macroplastics (particles size 5mm) and microplastics (particles size 5mm). Accumulation of this newly emerging class of pollutants potentially decreases the efficiency of the existing water treatment system. Therefore improvement on the existing water treatment technique is required. This study aimed at investigating the effect of using the UV-assisted thermo-photocatalytic reaction on the degradation of polypropylene (PP) macro- and microplastics in an aqueous environment for 6 hours. ZnO nanoparticles (50 nm) were employed as the photocatalyst. 23 Full Factorial design was carried out in order to identify the correlation between the reaction temperature (35-50 C) size of PP plastic (25-100 mm) and the catalyst dosage (1“3 g/L) factors and their influences on the weight loss of macro/micro-plastics. Maximum plastic weight loss of 7.8 wt was achieved at 50C 1 g/L ZnO and 25 mm of PP plastic. The interaction between temperature and size must be taken into consideration.

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Item Type:	Article
AGROVOC Term:	Plastics
AGROVOC Term:	Water pollution
AGROVOC Term:	Alternative methods
AGROVOC Term:	Degradation
AGROVOC Term:	Particle size
AGROVOC Term:	Experiments
AGROVOC Term:	Analysis of variance
AGROVOC Term:	Thermogravimetric analysis
AGROVOC Term:	Temperature
AGROVOC Term:	Polypropylene
Depositing User:	Mr. AFANDI ABDUL MALEK
Last Modified:	24 Apr 2025 00:54
URI:	http://webagris.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/9301

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