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The phenomenological mass transfer kinetics model for Sr2+ sorption onto spheroids primary microplastics

Environmental Pollution 2019 122 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Xuan Guo, Jianlong Wang

Summary

Researchers developed a novel film-pore mass transfer (FPMT) kinetic model to describe strontium ion sorption onto polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride microplastics, quantifying both external and internal diffusion processes to better understand radionuclide transport in plastic-contaminated environments.

In this paper, the equilibrium and mass transfer kinetics of Sr sorption onto 3 types of microplastics, including polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene (PE), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) were investigated. A novel film-pore mass transfer (FPMT) model was developed and used to study the sorption kinetics and mechanisms. This model can be used to describe the external mass transfer (EMT) and the internal mass transfer (IMT) processes and to calculate the diffusion rate. The FPMT model could successfully predict the kinetics data of Sr sorption onto microplastics. The maximum value of the EMT rate achieved at the beginning of sorption was 103 μg g·h for PET, 247 μg g·hfor PE, and 854 μg g·h for PVC, and then it decreased dramatically with time. The IMT rate was far less than the EMT rate, and decreased slowly with time. The overall sorption rate of Sr onto microplastics was controlled by the external mass transfer step.

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