Photocatalytic Degradation of recovered micro/nanoplastics by membrane processes

Plastic pollution has become one of the most global graves environmental issues for their impact on the environment and on human beings1. The significant and continuous increase of plastics waste require an implement strategy for the reduction/elimination of plastic pollutants. In this work an innovative system that combines the membrane separation and the photocatalytic process for the treatment of polyester-polluted water is proposed (Figure 1). The complete recovery of fibres from water and the almost complete recovery of the initial performance of the membrane used (CA 2 kDa NF) with a cleaning efficiency of 98% and a low fouling index (16%) was obtained. Preliminary photocatalytic tests on some polyester fibres, recovered by a membrane process, showed a decrease in their length and in the weight, the photocatalytic decomposition was confirmed also by py-GCMS characterization2, highlighting the potential of the photocatalytic process to degrade micro/nanoplastics. The obtained results suggested that the photocatalytic process can be tuned to allow the decomposition of micro/nanoplastics avoiding the use of dangerous and costly methods such as the thermal process that can produce toxic by-products. Future work will be directed toward the optimization of an integrated separation/photocatalytic process for the treatment of micro/nanoplastics from polluted water.