Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Bioadsorbents for removal of microplastics from water ecosystems: a review

This review analyzes over 200 studies on using natural biological materials, called bioadsorbents, to remove microplastics from water. Researchers found that materials like chitosan, biochar, and cellulose show strong potential for capturing microplastic particles from contaminated water. The study highlights bioadsorbents as a promising, eco-friendly alternative to conventional water treatment methods for addressing microplastic pollution.

2024 International Journal of Sustainable Engineering 25 citations
Article Tier 2

Biopolymeric Nanocomposites for Wastewater Remediation: An Overview on Recent Progress and Challenges

This review examines how nanocomposites made from natural biopolymers like chitosan can be used to filter pollutants including microplastics out of wastewater. These biodegradable materials offer a more sustainable alternative to traditional water treatment methods, which matters for human health because cleaner wastewater means fewer microplastics reaching drinking water sources.

2024 Polymers 71 citations
Article Tier 2

Harnessing Nanomaterials for Water Decontamination: Insights into Environmental Impact, Sustainable Applications, and the Emerging Role of Polymeric Nanostructures

This review examines how nanomaterials can be used for water decontamination, including the removal of microplastics from aquatic environments. Researchers found that properties like large surface area and high reactivity make nanomaterials effective at addressing water pollution, though concerns remain about the environmental persistence and potential secondary effects of the nanomaterials themselves.

2026 Polymers
Article Tier 2

A Comprehensive Review of Natural Polymer‐Based Adsorbents for Microplastic Removal

This review evaluates natural polymer-based materials, including chitosan, cellulose, and alginate, as adsorbents for removing microplastics from water. Researchers found that these renewable materials can achieve removal efficiencies often above 90% through mechanisms including physical interception, hydrophobic interactions, and electrostatic attraction, making them promising candidates for sustainable water treatment systems.

2026 Journal of Polymer Science
Article Tier 2

Biocompatible materials as a sustainable solution to micro- and nanoplastic remediation and their challenges

This review evaluates biocompatible materials—including chitosan, cellulose, and biopolymers—as sustainable sorbents for removing micro- and nanoplastics from water, highlighting their advantages of biodegradability and low toxicity compared to conventional treatment media.

2025 Journal of environmental chemical engineering
Article Tier 2

Interaction of chitosan with nanoplastic in water: The effect of environmental conditions, particle properties, and potential for in situ remediation

Researchers tested chitosan — a natural polymer derived from shellfish — as a tool to aggregate and remove nanoplastic particles from water, finding it caused clumping at low doses but that high pH, dissolved organic matter, and surface chemistry of the plastics all affected its performance. The results suggest chitosan-based treatment has real potential for water remediation but requires careful tuning of environmental conditions.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanomaterials for microplastic remediation from aquatic environment: Why nano matters?

This review examines how nanomaterials such as photocatalysts, adsorbents, and membrane filters can be used to remove microplastics from aquatic environments, highlighting why nanoscale properties offer advantages over conventional remediation approaches.

2022 Chemosphere 113 citations
Article Tier 2

Chitosan: A Novel Approach and Sustainable Way to Remove Contaminants and Treat Wastewater

This review examines how chitosan, a natural material derived from crustacean shells, can be used to remove pollutants including microplastics, heavy metals, and pesticides from wastewater. Chitosan's chemical structure allows it to bind and capture a wide range of contaminants, and it can be combined with other materials to improve its effectiveness. Developing affordable, biodegradable water treatment materials like chitosan could help reduce human exposure to microplastics in drinking water.

2025 Starch - Stärke 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Coagulative removal of microplastics from aqueous matrices: Recent progresses and future perspectives

This review examines how coagulation, a common water treatment technique, can be used to remove microplastics from water. Researchers compared the effectiveness of different coagulants, finding that natural options like chitosan and protein-based coagulants achieved removal rates above 90 percent. The study highlights the promise of natural coagulants as a more sustainable approach to tackling microplastic contamination in water treatment systems.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 71 citations
Article Tier 2

Sustainable coagulative removal of microplastic from aquatic systems: recent progress and outlook

This review examines how natural coagulants from plants, animals, and microbes can be used to remove microplastics from water as a greener alternative to conventional chemical treatments. These bio-based coagulants, especially when combined with nanotechnology, show promising removal rates while avoiding the toxic residues left by traditional chemical approaches.

2025 RSC Advances 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanomaterials for microplastics remediation in wastewater: A viable step towards cleaner water

This review examines how nanomaterials, tiny engineered particles with high surface area and reactivity, can be used to remove microplastics from water more effectively than traditional methods like filtration and sedimentation. While promising, these technologies face challenges including high production costs, potential toxicity of the nanomaterials themselves, and difficulty scaling up from lab to real-world applications. Improving these methods is important because current water treatment often fails to remove the smallest and most harmful microplastic particles.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Utilization of chitosan as a natural coagulant for polyethylene microplastic removal

Scientists tested chitosan, a natural material derived from shellfish, as an eco-friendly way to remove polyethylene microplastics from water. Under the best conditions (pH 6.0 with 100 mg/L of chitosan), the treatment removed 81.5% of microplastics, offering a promising and environmentally safe approach to cleaning microplastic-contaminated water.

2025 Sustainable Chemistry for the Environment 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Green Remediation of Microplastics Using Bionanomaterials

This review explores how bionanomaterials, which are tiny particles derived from natural biological sources, can be used to remove microplastics from the environment. Researchers found that these materials offer advantages over conventional cleanup methods because they are biodegradable, nontoxic, and effective at capturing microplastic particles. The study highlights bionanomaterial-based remediation as a promising green approach to tackling widespread microplastic pollution.

2023 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Biodegradable sponges made from chitin-cellulose nanofibers for sustainable removal of microplastics from aquatic environment

Researchers developed a biodegradable sponge made from chitin and cellulose nanofibers that can remove up to 93% of microplastics from water. The sponge maintained strong performance after four reuse cycles and naturally biodegraded in soil environments. The study presents a sustainable, eco-friendly approach to cleaning microplastic contamination from aquatic ecosystems without introducing additional persistent pollutants.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Optimisation of Chitosan as A Natural Flocculant for Microplastic Remediation

Laboratory tests found that chitosan — a natural, biodegradable material derived from shellfish — can remove 68.3% of microplastics from water using a coagulation-flocculation process, with an optimal concentration of 30 ppm. Higher chitosan doses increased organic matter in the water (COD and BOD), suggesting a trade-off between microplastic removal efficiency and water quality parameters. Chitosan offers a promising eco-friendly alternative to synthetic chemicals for treating microplastic-contaminated water.

2023 Journal of Emerging Science and Engineering 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Overlooked role of aged cationic natural organic matter in aquatic microplastics aggregation-sedimentation

Aged cationic chitosan (a natural biopolymer) was found to drive aggregation and sedimentation of both conventional polystyrene and biodegradable PMMA microplastics more effectively than other forms of organic matter, revealing a previously overlooked mechanism for microplastic removal in natural waters.

2025 Water Research 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Potential of Nanocellulose for Microplastic removal: Perspective and challenges

Researchers reviewed how nanocellulose — tiny fibers derived from plant cell walls — can capture and remove microplastics from water through its large surface area and adaptable chemistry, positioning it as a promising, naturally biodegradable filter material. While early results are encouraging, further research is needed to optimize how nanocellulose works at scale in real drinking water and wastewater treatment systems.

2024 Tetrahedron Green Chem 19 citations
Article Tier 2

Emerging micropollutants in aquatic ecosystems and nanotechnology-based removal alternatives: A review

This review examines emerging micropollutants in water systems, including microplastics, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and heavy metals, and how nanotechnology-based approaches can help remove them. These contaminants threaten drinking water safety and aquatic ecosystems worldwide. The paper evaluates various nanomaterial-based filtration and degradation methods as promising solutions for cleaning up contaminated water.

2023 Chemosphere 98 citations
Article Tier 2

Synergistic removal of microplastic fibres: Integrating Chitosan coagulation in hybrid water pre-treatment systems

Microplastic fibers are the most common type of microplastic found entering water treatment plants, yet their elongated shape makes them especially hard to remove with conventional filters. This study investigated using chitosan — a natural, biodegradable material derived from crustacean shells — as a "green" coagulant to clump fibers together so they can be more easily removed, and also developed chemically modified versions of chitosan that work across a wider range of water conditions. The results showed that combining chitosan-based coagulation with microbubble aeration creates a synergistic pretreatment system that significantly improves microplastic fiber removal while avoiding the residual metal ions left by conventional chemical coagulants.

2026 Australasian Journal of Paramedicine
Article Tier 2

Advances in chitin and chitosan-based materials for microplastics treatment

This review summarizes advances in using chitin and chitosan-based materials for removing microplastics from wastewater. Researchers highlight that while these natural biopolymers offer promising adsorption capabilities due to their functional groups, challenges such as low selectivity and limited mechanical strength have constrained practical use. The study covers various treatment approaches including adsorption, coagulation-flocculation, membrane filtration, and air flotation technologies.

2025 Carbohydrate Polymers 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic removal from wastewater through biopolymer and nanocellulose-based green technologies

Biopolymer-based coagulation and flocculation agents were shown to effectively remove microplastics from wastewater, offering a more sustainable alternative to synthetic chemical flocculants. The approach supports eco-friendly microplastic treatment that avoids adding further chemical pollutants to effluents.

2025 RSC Sustainability 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Biodegradable and re-usable sponge materials made from chitin for efficient removal of microplastics

Researchers developed biodegradable sponges made from chitin, a natural material, that can effectively remove tiny microplastic particles smaller than 3 micrometers from water. The sponges achieved removal rates of up to 92% and could be reused for multiple cycles while remaining safe for aquatic organisms. This green approach offers a promising, environmentally friendly method for cleaning microplastics from water systems.

2021 Journal of Hazardous Materials 214 citations
Article Tier 2

Harnessing the power of amphoterically modified Chitosan coagulants for enhanced Polyester microplastic fibre removal from water

Amphoterically modified chitosan was used as a coagulant aid to capture microplastics from water, leveraging the biopolymer's charge-switching ability to bind particles across a range of pH conditions. Chitosan-based capture materials are attractive because chitosan is biodegradable and derived from renewable sources.

2025 Journal of Environmental Management 1 citations
Article Tier 2

A review of nanomaterials with excellent purification potential for the removal of micro- and nanoplastics from liquid

This review summarizes how specialized nanomaterials can be used to remove microplastics and nanoplastics from water, working as tiny filters, chemical catalysts, or absorbent surfaces. Traditional water treatment methods struggle with these very small plastic particles, but engineered nanomaterials show promise for capturing them more effectively. The authors also emphasize the importance of reducing plastic pollution at its source alongside developing better cleanup technologies.

2024 DeCarbon 21 citations