Paper ID: 1382

Fabricating Self-Assembled Porous Silica for Microplastic
Adsorption in Electrolyzed Drinking Water

 

Mellia Harumi1, Eleonora Adesti Reswara Putribian1, Benedictus Amadeo Emanuel1, Inneke Hantoro1, Bernadeta Soedarini1, & Gelbert Jethro Sanyoto1,*

Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Soegijapranata Catholic University, Jl. Rm. Hadisoebeno Sosro Wardoyo,
Semarang 50215, Indonesia

 

*Corresponding author: gelbert@unika.ac.id

 

Abstract

Microplastic contamination (1–5000 µm) in drinking water has been reported worldwide. The ingestion of microplastic-contaminated water poses potential health risks due to the accumulation of microplastics in human blood, placenta, and breast milk. This study aims to design and develop a porous silica- based filter (pore size 50-100 µm) with the capacity to adsorb microplastics from drinking water. The preparation of the modified porous silica material involved two stages: (1) synthesis of porous silica (SiO₂) templates using CaCl₂, and (2) surface modification of silica with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES). The porous structure emerged through chemobrionic self-assembly followed by acid leaching, which produced tubular pores at the micron scale for polyethylene microplastic particle capture. Presence of silica pores, morphologies, and amine functional groups are identified through FTIR and SEM-EDX analysis. The adsorption tests assessed the removal of polyethylene microplastics from electrolyzed drinking water through Nile Red-assisted flow cytometry to measure the extent of microplastic removal and evidence of microplastic removal is observed during 24-hour contact test. Surface analysis following adsorption showed carbon-rich agglomerates which confirmed that polyethylene particles formed bonds with the silica network. Overall, APTES-modified porous silica shows potential as an amine-functional adsorbent to remove microplastics from drinking water treatment systems.

Keywords: microplastics, drinking water, porous silica, electrolysis.

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