The Potential for PE Microplastics to Affect the Removal of Carbamazepine Medical Pollutants from Aqueous Environments by Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes.

Xiaoyu Sheng,Wei Zhang,Junkai Wang,Qiting Zuo

doi:10.3390/toxics9060139

Abstract

Microplastics are ubiquitous in aquatic environments and interact with other kinds of pollutants, which affects the migration, transformation, and fate of those other pollutants. In this study, we employ carbamazepine (CBZ) as the contaminant to study the influence of polyethylene (PE) microplastics on the adsorption of CBZ pollutants by multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MCNTs) in aqueous solution. The adsorption capacity of CBZ by MCNTs in the presence of PE microplastics was obviously lower than that by MCNTs alone. The influencing factors, including the dose of microplastics, pH, and CBZ solution concentration, on the adsorption of CBZ by MCNTs and MCNTs−PE were thoroughly investigated. The adsorption rate of CBZ by MCNTs decreased from 97.4% to 90.6% as the PE microplastics dose increased from 2 g/L to 20 g/L. This decrease occurred because the MCNTs were coated on the surface of the PE microplastics, which further decreased the effective adsorption area of the MCNTs. This research provides a framework for revealing the effect of microplastics on the adsorption of pollutants by carbon materials in aqueous environments.

Highlights

Fourier transformwas infrared the presence of PE (20 g/L), the rate of the adsorption similar spectroscopy that without the(FTIR)
The adsorption rate decreased gradually after 5 in the presence of PE microplastics, with the adsorption rate decreasing to 90.9% at 2
The effect of PE microplastics on the adsorption of CBZ from an aqueous solution was analyzed based on an investigation of CBZ adsorption by multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MCNTs)

Summary

Introduction

We employ carbamazepine (CBZ) as the contaminant to study the influence of polyethylene (PE) microplastics on the adsorption of CBZ pollutants by multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MCNTs) in aqueous solution. The influencing factors, including the dose of microplastics, pH, and CBZ solution concentration, on the adsorption of CBZ by MCNTs and. 97.4% to 90.6% as the PE microplastics dose increased from 2 g/L to 20 g/L This decrease occurred because the MCNTs were coated on the surface of the PE microplastics, which further decreased the effective adsorption area of the MCNTs. This research provides a framework for revealing the effect of microplastics on the adsorption of pollutants by carbon materials in aqueous environments. The global production of plastics increased from 1.3 million tons in 1950 to 359 million tons in 2018 [2].

Methods

Results

Conclusion