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The effect of voltage on polypropylene microplastics removal by electrocoagulation process using Fe electrode

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Norfaezatul Alysa Othman

Chemical Engineering Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Cawangan Pulau Pinang, Permatang Pauh Campus, 13500 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Norain Isa

Chemical Engineering Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Cawangan Pulau Pinang, Permatang Pauh Campus, 13500 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Waste Management and Resource Recovery (WeResCue) Group, Chemical Engineering Studies, College of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Cawangan Pulau Pinang, 13500 Permatang Pauh, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Nurulhuda Amri

Chemical Engineering Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Cawangan Pulau Pinang, Permatang Pauh Campus, 13500 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Nor Aimi Abdul Wahab

Department of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Cawangan Pulau Pinang, Permatang Pauh Campus, 13500 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Nurulhuda Bashirom

School of Materials Engineering, Kompleks Pusat Pengajian Jejawi 2, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Taman Muhibbah, 02600 Jejawi, Arau, Perlis, Malaysia

Abstract
This study investigates the effect of voltage on the removal of polypropylene microplastics (PPMPs) from artificial wastewater via an electrocoagulation (EC) process using iron (Fe) electrodes. The effect of the voltage was investigated by conducting multiple continuous flow experiments at three different voltage values (10, 20, and 30 V). The findings demonstrated that the turbidity value increased gradually as the initial voltage increased, from 6.67 NTU at 10 V to 74.37 NTU at 30 V. In this EC process, in which Fe electrodes are utilized to remove the PPMPs, it is believed that 20 V provides optimal support. Kinetic studies showed that the process followed a first-order kinetic model with a kinetics rate constant (k) of 0.0143 min-1 and a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.9702. The findings demonstrated that voltage is a significant parameter in the EC process employing Fe electrodes to remove PPMPs from wastewater.

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Keyword: Electrocoagulation, Fe electrode, Polypropylene microplastics, Removal efficiency, Voltage

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24191/esteem.v20iMarch.610.g535

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