Chemical Engineering Commons^™

Extraction Of Micro- And Nano-Plastic Particles From Water Using Hydrophobic Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents, Jameson R. Hunter

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

The production of plastic and the amount of waste plastic that enters the environment increases every year. Synthetic polymers will gradually break down into particles on the micro- and nano-scale. The micro- and nano-plastics pose a significant ecological harm by transporting toxic chemicals and causing inflammation and cellular damage when ingested. Two common plastics are polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and Polystyrene (PS), and a newer bioplastic polylactic acid (PLA) that has become a popular alternative. Deep eutectic solvents are a recently discovered solvent composed of a hydrogen bond donor and hydrogen bond acceptor and have been proposed as a cheaper alternative …