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Single-use plastic waste as a functional additive in PVA films for improved removal of acenaphthene from water: Batch and optimisation using response surface methodology
Summary
Scientists turned used plastic bags into a water filter by mixing them with a common film material (PVA), and it removed acenaphthene—a toxic chemical found in coal tar and vehicle exhaust—from water better than the filter material alone (87% vs 75%). This matters because it's a clever way to recycle plastic waste while tackling water pollution, though more research is needed before this could be used in real-world drinking water systems.
This study focuses on synthesizing a polymer film from waste plastic bags blended with Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and its efficiency in adsorbing acenaphthene from water solutions. Single-use plastic was blended with the PVA particles, which were further polymerized to prepare the film. Different parameters were varied to investigate their effects on the removal of acenaphthene. The result of the batch study inferred that the highest removal obtained from plastic blended PVA films was 87.45%, which is significantly higher than the normal PVA films, which only adsorb 75% of acenaphthene in optimized conditions. From the result of ATR-FTIR analysis, it could be predicted that the presence of –OH,–CH–OH, and –CH 2 enhances the adsorption efficiency of plastic blended PVA films significantly. From the SEM images, it was observed that the plastic particles were properly combined with the PVA membrane, increasing their hydrophobic characteristics and enhancing their affinity towards non-polar pollutants like acenaphthene.