POLYPROPYLENE MICROPLASTICS REMOVAL USING FE BASED ELECTRODE
VIA ELECTROCOAGULATION METHOD
NORFAEZATUL ALYSA BINTI OTHMAN
BACHELOR OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING (ENVIRONMENT) WITH HONOURS
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA
2022
POLYPROPYLENE MICRROPLASTICS REMOVAL USING FE BASED ELECTRODE VIA
ELECTROCOAGULATION METHOD
By
NORFAEZATUL ALYSA BINTI OTHMAN
This report is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements needed for the award of
Bachelor of Chemical Engineering (Environment) with Honours
CENTRE FOR CHEMICAL ENGINEERING STUDIES UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA
AUG 2022
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Firstly, I praise to Allah S.W.T for giving me the opportunity to embark on my bachelor and for completing this long and challenging journey successfully. My gratitude and thanks go to my supervisor, Dr. Norain binti Isa. I would like to express gratitude to Dr.
Norain binti Isa for her patience in teaching and supervising this research project. My appreciation goes to my colleagues and friends for helping me with this project.
Finally, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my family and friends for serving as a source of great inspiration and providing unwavering support throughout this study. Finally, I'd like to express my gratitude to everyone who was involved in this journey, either directly or indirectly.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
AUTHOR’S DECLARATION i
SUPERVISOR’S CERTIFICATION ii
COORDINATOR’S CERTIFICATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS v
LIST OF TABLES vii
LIST OF FIGURES viii
LIST OF SYMBOLS ix
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS x
ABSTRACT I
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Research Background 1
1.2 Problem Statement 2
1.3 Objectives 3
1.4 Scope of Work 3
CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 5
2.1 Microplastics (MPs) 5
2.2 Microplastics removal by using a different method 6
2.3 Coagulation or Sedimentation 8
2.4Filtration Method 8
2.5 Adsorption 9
2.6Photocatalytic Degradation 9
2.7Electrocoagulation 10
2.7.1Effect of operational parameters during EC process 11
I
ABSTRACT
With the gradual increase of pollution of MPs in the world, it is important to implement various method for removing MPs from water environment. In this study, polypropylene microplastics (PPMPs) removal from artificial wastewater using Fe electrode via electrocoagulation (EC) was investigated. Modified Fe electrode was prepared by anodization method in the electrolyte containing EG and NH4F with presence of air bubbles at 60 V for 30 min at room temperature. For PPMPs removal, the concentration of 125 μm size of PPMPs used in this study was controlled at 125 and 250 ppm. The performance of Fe and modified Fe electrodes was evaluated for PPMPs removal based on their removal efficiency measured using turbidity meter. It was found that the 88.19% and 88.44% of PPMPs removal was achieved at at 90 min EC time using modified Fe electrode for 250 and 125 ppm of initial MPs respectively.
Furthermore, using the linearity between the turbidity value of aggregation of PPMPs and EC time, the sedimentation rate after the coagulation/sedimentation process could be determined. The kinetics data were best fitted to pseudo first-order kinetics model with the sedimentation rate of reaction 0.0174 min-1 for modified Fe electrode indicating a improved removal rate of 250 ppm of PPMPs. Our findings imply that turbidity monitoring can offer reasonable optimization of water treatment techniques for successful removal of MPs.
