Electrochemical removal of PET and PE microplastics for wastewater treatment

Abstract

The presence of microplastics (MPs) in most ecosystems is a major problem globally, and effective strategies to avoid their release are not still established. In this work an electrochemical process to remove microplastics from wastewater is proposed. The removal of polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) microplastics by electrolysis with mixed metal oxide anodes was studied. The weight loss of MPs, generation of by-products and surface transformation induced by the treatment were assessed. The effect of active chlorine species electrogenerated was also studied. Starting from MP suspensions of 1 g dm⁻³, removal of about 70% of MPs (as weight loss) was achieved. A kinetic model based on a surface degradation process was used to quantify the performance of the process: degradation rates of 1.10 10⁴ μm y⁻¹ for PE and 1.32 10⁴ μm y⁻¹ for PET were obtained for electrolysis at 20 mA cm⁻².