Design and application of environmentally friendly composite magnetic particles for microplastic extraction from water media

The widespread presence of microplastic particles in aquatic environments requires methods of their extraction from water for counting and analysis and for water purification technologies. In this study, new magnetic composite nanoparticles (FNP) were designed, characterized and explored to be used as magnetic seeds for extracting polyethylene terephthalate microparticles (MPET, 5–30 μm) from water by magnetic sedimentation. The engineered seeds have a complex morphology, with magnetic cores of Fe3O4 dispersed in an environmentally compatible polymer matrix of silicon dioxide, chitosan or gelatine. Mechanisms of the heteroaggregation of FNP and MPET are considered and the main influencing factors (particles concentrations, major ions, duration of the preliminary exposure and of the sedimentation) are studied. The heteroaggregates are removed from water using a gradient magnetic field (Bzmax = 0.44 T) generated by a system of permanent magnets. The mass concentration of magnetic nanoseeds for more than 98 % capture of PET particles in pure and in salted water after 0.5 hour of magnetic sedimentation was detected to be 0.002 g/L. It is two orders of magnitude lower than that reported for uncovered magnetite-based particles. Using magnetic composite seeds with ecofriendly coatings allows to perform a high efficient magnetic separation of microplastic particles from water both for analytical purpose and for potential water cleaning technologies, while strongly reducing the synthetic flocculant sludge volume.