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The effects of ultraviolet irradiation treatment on the surface properties of microplastics
Summary
UV irradiation was used to modify microplastic surface properties, making them more hydrophilic, which improved flotation efficiency — a water treatment technique that relies on particle hydrophobicity — demonstrating a pretreatment approach to enhance MP removal from water.
Abstract Microplastics (MPs) are persistent pollutants of water bodies and pose significant risks to ecosystems and human health due to their non-biodegradable nature, small size, and inherently hydrophobic surface property. To remove MPs, flotation is a promising approach because this technique takes advantage of the high hydrophobicity of particles. However, flotation efficiency is generally lower for removing MPs because of their micrometer size. This study proposes agglomeration-micro-flotation (AMF)—a column flotation with kerosene as a bridging liquid—to address this challenge and improve MP removal via flotation. In this novel approach, enhanced floatability of MPs is achieved by increasing the apparent particle sizes of MPs while simultaneously decreasing the bubble size. Furthermore, ultraviolet (UV) irradiation pretreatment was introduced to modify the surface wettability of MPs before AMF. The results showed that UV irradiation enhanced the surface wettability of MPs and improved their removal via AMF.