Removal of the Water‐Soluble Plastic Pollutant Poly(vinyl alcohol) Using Kaolinite: Physicochemical Effects and Adsorption Mechanisms
9 affiliations
- 1Department of Chemistry Kohat University of Science and Information Technology Kohat Pakistan
- 2Department of Physics Government College University Faisalabad Pakistan
- 3Department of Chemical and Life Sciences Qurtuba University of Science and Information Technology Dera Ismail Khan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan
- 4National Institute of Lasers and Optronics (NILOP)‐College Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS)‐University Islamabad Pakistan
- 5Research Center for Advanced Materials Science King Khalid University Abha Saudi Arabia
- 6Department of Physics Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan Mardan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan
- 7School of Physics and Materials Sciences Guangzhou University Guangzhou China
- 8Department of Textile Engineering Faculty of Engineering Daffodil International University Dhaka People’s Republic of Bangladesh
- 9Ivory V. Nelson Center for the Sciences Department of Chemistry and Physics Lincoln University Oxford Pennsylvania USA
Abstract
The adsorption behavior of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH), a representative water‐soluble plastic, onto kaolinite clay was systematically investigated under varying physicochemical conditions. Four PVOH fractions with molecular masses ranging from 49 to 125 × 103 g mol–1 were evaluated to determine the effects of pH, electrolyte concentration, thermal treatment, homogenization, and ultrasonication on adsorption performance. Adsorption equilibrium and kinetic analyses showed that the Langmuir isotherm (R 2 > 0.99) and pseudo‐second‐order kinetic model (R 2 > 0.99584) best described the adsorption process. Adsorption capacity increased with polymer molecular mass and decreased by approximately 18% as pH increased from 2 to 10 due to increasing negative surface charge and electrostatic repulsion. Elevated electrolyte concentrations reduced adsorption through ionic competition and active‐site blockage. In contrast, ultrasonication and thermal pretreatment significantly enhanced adsorption by increasing surface area and surface charge density. Spectroscopic and physicochemical analyses confirmed that hydrogen bonding between PVOH hydroxyl groups and kaolinite silanol/aluminol groups, together with van der Waals interactions, dominated the adsorption mechanism. These findings demonstrate the potential of modified kaolinite as a sustainable and low‐cost adsorbent for mitigating soluble plastic pollution.
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BibTeX
@article{afridi2026removal,
title = {{Removal of the Water‐Soluble Plastic Pollutant Poly(vinyl alcohol) Using Kaolinite: Physicochemical Effects and Adsorption Mechanisms}},
author = {Gul Abad Afridi and Tasleem Hussain Shah and Muhammad Fakhar‐e‐Alam and Mehwish Huma and Muhammad Zakria and Muhammad Imran and Muhammad Ismail and Abbas Nasir and Qaisar Abbas Bhatti and Sakil Mahmud},
journal = {ChemistryOpen},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1002/open.70331},
url = {https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/open.70331},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Removal of the Water‐Soluble Plastic Pollutant Poly(vinyl alcohol) Using Kaolinite: Physicochemical Effects and Adsorption Mechanisms
AU - Gul Abad Afridi
AU - Tasleem Hussain Shah
AU - Muhammad Fakhar‐e‐Alam
AU - Mehwish Huma
AU - Muhammad Zakria
AU - Muhammad Imran
AU - Muhammad Ismail
AU - Abbas Nasir
AU - Qaisar Abbas Bhatti
AU - Sakil Mahmud
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/05
JO - ChemistryOpen
DO - 10.1002/open.70331
UR - https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/open.70331
AB - The adsorption behavior of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH), a representative water‐soluble plastic, onto kaolinite clay was systematically investigated under varying physicochemical conditions. Four PVOH fractions with molecular masses ranging from 49 to 125 × 103 g mol–1 were evaluated to determine the effects of pH, electrolyte concentration, thermal treatment, homogenization, and ultrasonication on adsorption performance. Adsorption equilibrium and kinetic analyses showed that the Langmuir isotherm (R 2 > 0.99) and pseudo‐second‐order kinetic model (R 2 > 0.99584) best described the adsorption process. Adsorption capacity increased with polymer molecular mass and decreased by approximately 18% as pH increased from 2 to 10 due to increasing negative surface charge and electrostatic repulsion. Elevated electrolyte concentrations reduced adsorption through ionic competition and active‐site blockage. In contrast, ultrasonication and thermal pretreatment significantly enhanced adsorption by increasing surface area and surface charge density. Spectroscopic and physicochemical analyses confirmed that hydrogen bonding between PVOH hydroxyl groups and kaolinite silanol/aluminol groups, together with van der Waals interactions, dominated the adsorption mechanism. These findings demonstrate the potential of modified kaolinite as a sustainable and low‐cost adsorbent for mitigating soluble plastic pollution.
SN - 2191-1363
SN - 2191-1363
ER -