Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Lignin derived hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents for the extraction of nanoplastics from water

Researchers synthesized lignin-based hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents (environmentally friendly liquid mixtures) and demonstrated they can extract both polystyrene and PET nanoplastics from water with over 95% efficiency, offering a sustainable approach to nanoplastic detection and removal that avoids conventional synthetic solvents.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 18 citations
Article Tier 2

Green Chemistry Strategies for Mitigating Microplastic Pollution in Aquatic Environments

Researchers reviewed green chemistry strategies that can reduce microplastic pollution at the source, including the development of biodegradable polymers, solvent-free synthesis routes, and the use of renewable feedstocks. The review frames chemical innovation as a key tool for pollution prevention.

2024 Asian Journal of Environmental Research. 9 citations
Review Tier 2

A focused review on recycling and hydrolysis techniques of polyethylene terephthalate

This review examines techniques for recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET), one of the most common plastics found as microplastic pollution. Chemical recycling through hydrolysis shows the most promise for breaking PET back into its original building blocks for reuse. Improving PET recycling is important because reducing plastic waste at the source is one of the most effective ways to decrease microplastic contamination in the environment.

2023 Polymer Engineering and Science 154 citations
Article Tier 2

Process Optimization of Solvents Assisted Polyethylene Waste Recycling

Researchers optimized solvent-based chemical recycling of polyethylene plastic waste to recover high-quality recycled material. The study demonstrates that chemical recycling can be tuned to maximize yield and quality, offering a scalable alternative to mechanical recycling that degrades plastic properties over time.

2023 FUDMA Journal of Sciences 2 citations
Article Tier 2

On technological solutions for recycling of recycling of polymer waste: A review

This paper is not directly about microplastics; it reviews technological approaches to recycling polymer waste — mechanical, chemical, and energy-based methods — and analyzes their economic and environmental trade-offs. Better plastic recycling technology is relevant to microplastic prevention insofar as it reduces the amount of plastic that degrades into environmental microplastic particles.

2024 E3S Web of Conferences 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Developments in Recycling of Polyester Textile Waste

This review examines developments in polyester textile waste recycling, discussing how the fast fashion model has shortened garment lifespans, increased waste, and contributed to microplastic pollution from synthetic fibres. The authors survey mechanical, chemical, and circular economy recycling approaches, highlighting low current recycling rates especially in developing countries and the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and resource consumption.

2023 Advance Research in Textile Engineering 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Chemical Recyclingof Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)Driven by the Use of Protic Ionic Liquids: A Strategy to MitigateMicroplastic Pollution

Researchers developed a chemical recycling process for polyethylene terephthalate plastic using protic ionic liquids as green solvents, enabling depolymerization under milder conditions than conventional methods. The approach achieved high PET conversion rates and yielded recyclable monomers, offering a more sustainable alternative for addressing PET waste and associated microplastic pollution.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

Utilization of deep eutectic solvents in chemically recycled polymeric resins for multielement determination

Researchers developed green analytical methods using deep eutectic solvents (DES) and natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) for multielement determination in chemically recycled polymeric resins, applying green analytical chemistry principles to minimize environmental and analyst risk.

2024 LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas)
Article Tier 2

γ-Valerolactone-Enabled Mild Methanolysis of Waste Polyethylene Terephthalate for Efficient Chemical Recycling

Researchers used gamma-valerolactone as a green solvent to enable mild methanolysis of waste PET plastic at low temperatures, achieving efficient conversion of PET into dimethyl terephthalate and ethylene glycol monomers suitable for closed-loop chemical recycling.

2025 Polymers 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics Extraction from Water by Hydrophobic Deep Eutectic Solvents

Researchers developed an efficient method to extract nanoplastics from water using special solvents called hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents. The best-performing solvents removed nearly all nanoplastics in a single pass, regardless of particle size. This detection and removal technique could help scientists better measure nanoplastic contamination in drinking water and potentially lead to practical water purification solutions.

2024 ACS Applied Engineering Materials 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Enhancing environmmental biodegradation of polyesters

Researchers investigated strategies to enhance the environmental biodegradation of polyester-based packaging polymers, proposing two pathways: a smart material design concept that incorporates degradation-facilitating additives, and an enzymatic approach using engineered polyesterases. The work addresses the practical challenge that biodegradable polyesters degrade too slowly under real environmental conditions, generating persistent microplastic fragments, and aims to close this gap between certified biodegradability and actual environmental breakdown.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Strategies and technologies for sustainable plastic waste treatment and recycling

This review covers current and emerging methods for recycling and treating plastic waste to reduce environmental pollution. The authors emphasize that improperly managed plastics break down into microplastics that contaminate ecosystems, and they evaluate strategies including chemical recycling, biodegradation, and energy recovery as more sustainable alternatives to landfilling.

2025 Environmental Functional Materials 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Structural decay of poly(ethylene terephthalate) by enzymatic degradation

Researchers examined the structural decay of poly(ethylene terephthalate) through enzymatic degradation as a sustainable recycling strategy, finding this approach requires neither energy nor harsh solvents, offering a promising path for addressing microplastic pollution from PET products.

2025 Polymer Journal
Article Tier 2

Polyester biodegradability: importance and potential for optimisation

This review discusses how biodegradable polyester plastics could replace fossil-fuel-based plastics, helping reduce the buildup of persistent plastic waste in the environment. The researchers explain that biodegradability varies greatly depending on conditions like temperature and environment, and even biodegradable plastics may not break down in all settings. While developing better biodegradable materials could reduce long-term microplastic pollution, the study cautions that these plastics are not a complete solution since they may still fragment into microplastics before fully degrading.

2024 Green Chemistry 72 citations
Article Tier 2

Research progress on chemical depolymerization and upcycling of PET waste plastics

This review examines recent advances in chemical methods for breaking down polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste plastics into useful raw materials. Researchers surveyed techniques including glycolysis, methanolysis, hydrolysis, and aminolysis that can convert PET back into monomers for reuse. The study highlights chemical depolymerization as a promising approach to reduce plastic pollution while recovering valuable materials from waste.

2025 Chinese Science Bulletin (Chinese Version) 1 citations
Article Tier 2

From Waste to Value: Advances in Recycling Textile-Based PET Fabrics

This review examines recent advances in recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET) textile fabrics, with a focus on fiber-to-fiber regeneration as a path toward circular textile production. Researchers found that chemical depolymerization methods show particular promise for recovering high-purity monomers suitable for making new textile-grade PET, potentially reducing textile waste that contributes to microplastic pollution.

2025 Textiles 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial enzymes for the recycling of recalcitrant petroleum‐based plastics: how far are we?

This review examines the progress in identifying microbial enzymes capable of breaking down petroleum-based plastics like polyethylene, polystyrene, polyurethane, and PET. Researchers highlight recent advances in using polyester-degrading enzymes to recover raw materials from PET waste through biocatalytic recycling. The study discusses the potential and remaining challenges of using biological approaches to address the growing global problem of plastic waste accumulation.

2017 Microbial Biotechnology 788 citations
Article Tier 2

Chemical Recycling of Mixed Plastics in Electronic Waste Using Solvent-Based Processing

Researchers developed a solvent-based chemical recycling process capable of separating and recovering mixed plastics from electronic shredder residue, demonstrating that targeted solvent systems can selectively dissolve specific polymer types and enable higher-quality recycling of e-waste plastics.

2021 Processes 42 citations
Article Tier 2

Research on Recycling Design of Clothing Textiles Based on Sustainable Development

This review examines sustainable design strategies for recycling and reusing clothing and textiles, covering the full lifecycle from design to end-of-life disposal. Textile recycling is relevant to microplastic pollution because synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon shed microplastic fibers during washing.

2023 The Frontiers of Society Science and Technology 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Eutectic solvents and low molecular weight gelators for next-generation supramolecular eutectogels: a sustainable chemistry perspective

This paper is not about microplastics. It reviews eutectic solvents (specialized liquid mixtures) combined with low-molecular-weight gelators to form supramolecular gels, discussed from a sustainable chemistry perspective. The study addresses green chemistry and materials science with no connection to microplastic pollution.

2023 RSC Sustainability 25 citations
Article Tier 2

Application of Different Chemical Recycling for Plastics

This review examines chemical recycling methods for plastic waste as alternatives to mechanical recycling, focusing on depolymerization via solvolysis, pyrolysis, and purification processes applicable to PET, polyurethane, and polystyrene. The authors discuss how these approaches convert polymer waste back into feedstock monomers that can be repolymerized, addressing value degradation and sorting limitations inherent to mechanical recycling.

2022 Highlights in Science Engineering and Technology 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Expanding plastics recycling technologies: chemical aspects, technology status and challenges

This review examined the full life cycle of plastics and evaluated options for managing plastic waste, with a focus on chemical recycling technologies. The study suggests that overcoming barriers to industrial chemical recycling could open new opportunities for reducing plastic pollution.

2022 Green Chemistry 511 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent advances in catalytic hydrogenolysis of polyester

This review summarises a decade of research into chemically recycling polyester plastic waste (especially PET) by breaking its polymer chains using hydrogen gas — a process called hydrogenolysis — to recover valuable chemical building blocks. Different catalysts allow scientists to target different chemical bonds in PET, yielding products like aromatic hydrocarbons, glycols, or terephthalic acid under varying conditions. Developing efficient chemical recycling pathways is directly relevant to reducing plastic waste and the microplastic pollution that results from improperly disposed plastics.

2025 Chinese Science Bulletin (Chinese Version) 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent trends in microbial and enzymatic plastic degradation: a solution for plastic pollution predicaments

This review covers recent advances in using microorganisms and their enzymes to break down plastics including polyethylene, PVC, polystyrene, and PET, with techniques like protein engineering being used to boost enzyme efficiency. Microbial degradation offers a sustainable approach to reducing the persistent plastic pollution that generates the microplastics found throughout the environment and human body.

2024 Biotechnology for Sustainable Materials 64 citations