열수-펜톤 산화반응을 통한 미세플라스틱의 분해 특성 평가

초록

Plastic pollution is choking our oceans and gradually reaching human organs by entering our food chain. Technologies that can handle microplastics (MPs) in aquatic ecosystems are still emerging and need more research for practical sustainability. This study demonstrates a hybrid approach that combines the Fenton reaction with a hydrothermal process to oxidize MPs. This coalition shows positive synergy and effective oxidation. The system attained a weight loss of 75.15% in 16 h, increasing to 93.79% in 20 h and 98.43% in 24 h. The water contact angle for the unaltered MPs was 86.9° ± 2.3 that gradually decreased to 53.27° ± 0.8, which confirmed the insertion of carbonyl and hydroxyl functional groups into the polymer chain and resulted in increasing the hydrophilicity. The reaction pathway for the scissoring of the carbon chain might be initiated by the alkyl radical mechanism, propagated by the peroxy and hydroperoxide radicals. MPs particle size study showed that the degradation rate is directly proportional to the surface area. The reaction filtrate showed no ecotoxicity and was safe to dispose of in the environment after the reaction. Therefore, this study will provide a basic understanding for the researchers to investigate further the hybrid advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) to address the problem of plastic/marine pollution.