Carbon nanoparticles fabricated microfilm: A potent filter for microplastics debased water

Prabhu Kamaraj; Vishnu Vardhan Sridhar; Siva Vijaykumar Tharumasivam; Sudharsan Parthasarathy; Giridharan Bupesh; Nirmal Kumar Raju; Uttam Kumar Sahoo; Anima Nanda; Konda Mani Saravanan

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122502

Carbon nanoparticles fabricated microfilm: A potent filter for microplastics debased water

Environ Pollut. 2023 Nov 1:336:122502. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122502. Epub 2023 Sep 2.

Authors

Prabhu Kamaraj¹, Vishnu Vardhan Sridhar¹, Siva Vijaykumar Tharumasivam², Sudharsan Parthasarathy³, Giridharan Bupesh⁴, Nirmal Kumar Raju⁵, Uttam Kumar Sahoo⁶, Anima Nanda⁷, Konda Mani Saravanan⁸

Affiliations

¹ PG & Research Department of Biotechnology, Srimad Andavan Arts Science College(Autonomous), Tiruvanaikoil, Tiruchirappalli, 620005, Tamil Nadu, India.
² Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan University, Samayapuram, Tiruchirappalli, 621112, Tamil Nadu, India.
³ Department of Forestry, Nagaland University (Central), Lumami, Nagaland, 798627, India.
⁴ Department of Forestry, Nagaland University (Central), Lumami, Nagaland, 798627, India. Electronic address: bupeshgiri@nagalanduniversity.ac.in.
⁵ PG & Research Department of Physics, Srimad Andavan Arts & Science College (Autonomous), Tiruvanaikoil, Tiruchirappalli, 620005, Tamil Nadu, India.
⁶ Department of Forestry, Mizoram University, Aizawl, 796004, India.
⁷ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India.
⁸ Department of Biotechnology, Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, 600073, Tamil Nadu, India.

PMID: 37666462
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122502

Abstract

Microplastics were found to be the major pollutant across the globe. Plastic microbeads, like 0.5 mm, are very small and mainly used for exfoliation. The marine species cannot distinguish between their usual food and these microbeads. Microbeads have the potential to transfer up the food chain, which may lead to consumption by humans in the end. Activated carbon from inexpensive sources has greatly interested separation systems, especially in water treatment. In that view, carbon nanoparticles were produced, combined with polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer, and used as a membrane to trap the microplastic particles. UV-Vis, FTIR, TEM, and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the produced carbon nanoparticles. FT-RAMAN Spectroscopy studies, microbial viable cell count, and turbidity analysis followed the membrane preparation and post-treatment. The carbon nanoparticle fabricated nanofilm effectively eliminates the microbial count and microplastics and reduces the turbidity (0.13 NTU). This study confirms that the membrane effectively filters microplastics and other contaminants. Nowadays, nanofiltration technologies have been considered beneficial for eliminating microplastics to an efficiency of 95%. Further research is needed to determine a feasible low-cost, ecologically suitable, and effective solution to remove the microplastics in water.

Keywords: Activated carbon; FTIR; Microbeads; Polyvinylidene fluoride; TEM; XRD.