Hanif Muhammad Adli, Ibrahim Naimah, Dahalan Farrah Aini, Md Ali Umi Fazara, Hasan Masitah, Azhari Ayu Wazira, Jalil Aishah Abdul
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, 02600, Arau, Perlis, Malaysia.
Centre of Excellence for Water Research and Environmental Sustainability Growth (WAREG), Universiti Malaysia Perlis, 02600, Arau, Perlis, Malaysia.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 May;30(21):60106-60120. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-26741-8. Epub 2023 Apr 5.
Microplastic (MP) is an emerging contaminant of concern due to its ubiquitous quantity in the environment, small size, and potential toxicity due to strong affinity towards other contaminants. In this work, MP particles (5-300 μm) were extracted from a commercial facial cleanser and determined to be irregular polyethylene (PE) microbeads based on characterization with field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and Raman spectroscopy. The potential of extracted MP acting as toxic pollutants' vector was analyzed via adsorption of methylene blue and methyl orange dye where significant dye uptake was observed. Synthetic wastewater containing the extracted MP was subjected to a continuous-flow column study using palm kernel shell and coconut shell biochar as the filter/adsorbent media. The prepared biochar was characterized via proximate and ultimate analysis, FESEM, contact angle measurement, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to investigate the role of the biochar properties in MP removal. MP removal performance was determined by measuring the turbidity and weighing the dry mass of particles remaining in the effluent following treatment. Promising results were obtained from the study with highest removal of MP (96.65%) attained through palm kernel shell biochar with particle size of 0.6-1.18 mm and continuous-flow column size of 20 mm.
微塑料（MP）是一种新出现的受关注污染物，因其在环境中无处不在、尺寸小，以及由于对其他污染物具有很强的亲和力而具有潜在毒性。在这项工作中，从一种商用洗面奶中提取了MP颗粒（5 - 300μm），并通过场发射扫描电子显微镜（FESEM）和拉曼光谱进行表征，确定其为不规则的聚乙烯（PE）微珠。通过亚甲基蓝和甲基橙染料的吸附分析了提取的MP作为有毒污染物载体的潜力，观察到显著的染料吸收。含有提取的MP的合成废水使用棕榈仁壳和椰壳生物炭作为过滤/吸附介质进行连续流柱研究。通过近似和最终分析、FESEM、接触角测量、原子力显微镜（AFM）和傅里叶变换红外（FTIR）光谱对制备的生物炭进行表征，以研究生物炭性质在MP去除中的作用。通过测量处理后流出物中残留颗粒的浊度和干燥质量来确定MP的去除性能。该研究取得了有希望的结果，通过粒径为0.6 - 1.18mm且连续流柱尺寸为20mm的棕榈仁壳生物炭实现了最高的MP去除率（96.65%）。
