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Improving nanoplastic removal by coagulation: Impact mechanism of particle size and water chemical conditions
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Researchers found that coagulation using aluminum chlorohydrate and polyacrylamide achieved up to 98.5% removal efficiency for polystyrene nanoplastics, with smaller particles being easier to remove, though humic acid in water competed for adsorption sites and reduced effectiveness.
Plastic particles may bring potential threats to the ecosystem. Coagulation, as a widely used method to remove particles, has been rarely studied for plastic particles in the nanometer range. In this work, the coagulation removal of polystyrene nanoplastic particles (PSNPs, 50-1000 nm) was conducted in a model system containing coagulants aluminum chlorohydrate (PAC) and polyacrylamide (PAM). The optimal removal efficiency (98.5%) was observed in the coagulation process at pH= 8.0, 0.4 g·L PAC and 20 mg·L PAM. The inhibition impact of humic acid was also noticed, due to its competitive adsorption with PSNPs onto flocs. The interaction energies between PSNPs and PAC were calculated by the extended Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (XDLVO) theory, which showed that electrical neutralization resulted in the difference of the remove efficiency in different sizes and coagulant concentrations. The formation of Al-O bond between PSNPs and PAC/PAM flocs promoted the removal of PSNPs. Excessive PAM (> 20 mg·L) increased clusters size and solution viscosity, which resulted in the settling of clusters being controlled by buoyancy and the reduced remove efficiency. The findings suggest that the chemical coagulation dominants the removal of NPs, and the coagulation efficiency can be optimized by choosing suitable coagulant and water chemical conditions.
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Removal behaviors and mechanism of polystyrene microplastics by coagulation/ultrafiltration process: Co-effects of humic acid
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Researchers investigated coagulation-ultrafiltration for removing polystyrene microplastics from drinking water, finding that aluminum-based coagulants achieved over 92% removal efficiency and that humic acid co-presence affected the removal mechanism and membrane fouling.
Surface characteristics of polystyrene microplastics mainly determine their coagulation performances
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Researchers evaluated polyaluminum sulfate coagulant for removing polystyrene microplastics from water, achieving 90.4% removal at optimal dosage. Surface characteristics of microplastics including density, particle size, and adsorbed substances significantly influenced coagulation efficiency.
Revealing the removal behavior of polystyrene nanoplastics and natural organic matter by AlTi-based coagulant from the perspective of functional groups
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Researchers examined how the surface chemistry of polystyrene nanoplastics (carboxyl vs. amine groups) and co-occurring natural organic matter influence removal by a novel aluminum-titanium coagulant, finding that amine-functionalized particles are more easily removed across a wider pH range and that low-molecular-weight organic acids preferentially occupy coagulant binding sites, complicating nanoplastic removal in natural water matrices.
Uncovering the performance and intrinsic mechanism of different hydrolyzed AlTi species in polystyrene nanoplastics coagulation
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Researchers systematically compared how different aluminum-titanium coagulant species remove nanoplastics from water, finding that polymeric AlTi species outperform monomeric ones by achieving 95% turbidity removal at lower doses through a combination of charge neutralization and chemical complexation with the nanoplastic surface.
Impact of dissolved organic matter characteristics and inorganic species on the stability and removal by coagulation of nanoplastics in aqueous media
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Researchers investigated how dissolved organic matter type and ionic composition affect the stability and coagulation removal of nanoplastics, finding that biopolymers rich in proteins and carbohydrates most effectively stabilize particles through steric repulsion, while polymer aluminum chloride (PACl) outperforms alum as a coagulant in the presence of organic matter.
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