Synthesis of Porous Polymer Sponge Matrix using Modified Sodium Alginate Clay Compound for Adsorptive Removal of Microplastics and Oil from Contaminated Water

Overview

Many water sources, including drinking water, contain microplastics and oil. Both contaminants are harmful to us and the environment, yet current removal methods are inefficient, expensive, and/or not environmentally-friendly. Through synthesizing a clay -alginate sponge matrix with an ionic liquid (IL), an efficient method to remove microplastic and oil contamination from water will be devised. Montmorillonite clay (MMT) is naturally-abundant, safe, and inexpensive, with notably great adsorption properties and high surface area, essential for an efficient water filtration system. My past research has confirmed pure MMT’s effectiveness in removing microplastics and oil, prompting my current research for optimization. Sodium alginate (SA) is a safe commonly -used substance that can increase the clay’s adsorption affinity for pollutants due to its backbone structure with excess carboxyl and hydroxyl groups. Loading the sponge matrix with an IL further increases adsorption as wel l as stability, as ILs have shown promise in organic pollutant removal. The sponge matrix with the IL loaded clay-alginate compound will be synthesized using both freeze-drying and dip-coating methodologies. Research analyzing removal capabilities of MMT w ith SA and a loaded IL was conducted using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy analyses, with scanning electron microscopy to investigate the matrices’ surface structures. The sponge matrix with SA, MMT, and IL indeed yielded the highest results, removing 77. 87% of PETE microplastics and 81.71% of gasoline oil at 20°C with a 60 min treatment period. A prototype of a standard filter with multiple compartments for a household water filtration was developed using 3D modeling software and is currently being tested for optimization.

Competition history

• JSHS 2024 Category not listed

Resources

• National JSHS abstract book ↗

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.