Mitigation of nano-polystyrene in water: Delving into the mechanism of zeolite adsorption

J Hong and S Kim and GB Song and B Kim and MG Choi and S Kim and JH Kim and Y Lee and HS Cho and S Hong, JOURNAL OF WATER PROCESS ENGINEERING, 79, 108999 (2025).

DOI: 10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108999

Nanoplastics pose significant environmental and health risks due to their small size and persistence, making remediation highly challenging. While zeolites are promising adsorbents owing to their cost- effectiveness and recyclability, systematic studies on their nanoplastic removal capabilities are scarce. This study investigates how zeolite framework structures, extra-framework cations, and aluminum content- factors influencing surface area and hydrophobicity-affect nanoplastic adsorption in aqueous environments. Among the tested materials, HY (60), with its high external surface area and strong hydrophobicity, showed superior performance, achieving 97.4 % removal of nano-polystyrene (nPS, 75-300 nm) and a maximum adsorption capacity of 970.8 mg/g. Molecular dynamics simulations identified zeolite-water and zeolite-nanoplastic interaction strengths as critical determinants of adsorption efficiency. Additionally, quantitative analysis using an extended Langmuir rate equation revealed a sigmoidal dependence of the short-time adsorption rate coefficient on agitation speed, underscoring the importance of zeolite-water interactions. The practical applicability of HY(60) was further validated using real-world water samples from a pond, a river, and a sea. These findings advance mechanistic understanding of nanoplastic adsorption and offer valuable insights into optimizing zeolite properties and treatment conditions, supporting their potential use in large-scale water remediation and public health protection.

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