Method for the regeneration of the magnetic material used for the magnetic removal of microplastics from aqueous matrices
AssigneesCaptoplastic, S.L., Universidad Autonoma De Madrid
InventorsMacarena Muñoz García, Neus López Aragó, Raquel Parra Sánchez, Zahara Martínez De Pedro, José Antonio Casas De Pedro
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a process for breaking up microplastic/magnetic material aggregates. The process allows both regenerating the magnetic material and obtaining magnetic material-free microplastics. The present invention consists fundamentally of breaking up magnetic material/microplastic aggregates by means of treatment thereof with a concentrated aqueous saline solution, and subsequently separating both types of solids by density and/or by applying a magnetic field.
Claims16
A process for breaking up magnetic iron material/organic particle aggregates, the process comprising:
- a) providing the magnetic iron material/organic particle aggregates,
- b) introducing the aggregates of step a) in an aqueous saline solution for breaking up the aggregates, wherein the salt of the aqueous saline solution is selected from the group consisting of NaH2PO4, Na2HPO4, Na3PO4, NaCl, NaI, and mixtures thereof, and wherein the salt concentration of the aqueous saline solution is in the range of 100 g/L to 1000 g/L, and
- c) separating the magnetic iron material particles from the organic particles by density and/or by applying a magnetic field;
- wherein the organic particles are selected from the group consisting of microplastics, non-plastic organic particles, and a mixture thereof,
- wherein said organic particles have a size in the range of 0.1 μm to 5 mm, and
- wherein at least 70% of the organic particles are recovered in step c).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.