PLASTIC POLLUTION CONVERSION INTO ADSORBENTS FOR HEAVY METAL TREATMENT: OPTIMIZATION OF ISOTHERM METHODS AND ADSORPTION APPLICATIONS

Plastic waste in the ocean leaches chemicals, polluting marine environments. A recent study examined adsorption capacities of various media to address this concern. After a natural leaching process of three months, it was observed that activated carbon (AC) and a combination of activated carbon and zeolite (ZEO) demonstrated superior heavy metal removal efficiency. Specifically, 30g of activated carbon removed 91.72% of metals and a 10g mix of AC:ZEO achieved 90.38%. In contrast, 50g of zeolite removed 88.10%. Notably, the mixture of activated carbon and zeolite was especially efficient in removing copper. Additionally, the pH remained stable during these processes. The adsorption behavior was best described using the Langmuir isotherm model, outperforming the Freundlich model. This was evident from a higher correlation coefficient value for the Langmuir model across all tested media. The study emphasizes the potential of AC and AC:ZEO in addressing marine contamination from plastic waste.