Synthesis of Oil-Derived Adsorbents for Removal of Emerging Wastewater Pollutants

Abstract

The increasing demand of polymeric materials in combination to the interest in preventing environmental pollution recently brought to the design and synthesis of polymeric materials from sustainable feedstocks. Several efforts have been devoted to the synthesis of bio-based polymers via ring-opening metathesis polymerization from epoxidized soybean oil and its copolymerization.1,2 While the polymerization of the crude soybean oil is less investigated, in this framework an easy conversion of soybean oil in a durable and chemical degradable material has been recently reported.3 The bio-polymer can be efficiently applied for wastewater pollutant removal such as dyes, oil and halogenated solvents. However, since December 2024, wastewater treatment has been subject to new regulations, prompted by the systematic detection of emerging pollutants (microplastics, perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), pharmaceutically active compounds). In this framework, the synthesis new of bio-based materials derived from renewable vegetable oils via a facile, scalable polymerisation strategy, yielding hydrophobic, thermally resistant materials has been achieved. The oil-derived bio-based polymer mixed with zeolite was evaluated also as a sustainable adsorbent for the removal of single and mixed antibiotics, such as doxycycline (DOX), from treated wastewater, in batch tests as well in a pilot plant treating 100 L of effluent. In both cases, nearly complete (≈99%) removal of DOX at 7.5 mg L-1 initial concentration was achieved. Furthermore, adsorbents were recycled over 5 cycles.