Etherification modified wood flour adsorbent for removal micro-/nanoplastics from waste water by electrostatic effect

Micro-/nano-plastics (MNPs) accumulate in water environment, which raise increasing threats to ecosystems and human health. There is a pressing need for sustainable biomass adsorbent materials to remove plastic fragments from environments. Herein, wood flour modified through etherification was synthesized to remove polystyrene (PS) micro- and nanoparticles of different sizes from wastewater, leveraging electrostatic effects. DLHCWF-300, an idea capturing material, demonstrated maximum adsorption efficiency of 99.3 %, 97.5 % and 98.6 % for polystyrene (PS) particles with diameters of 100 nm, 500 nm and 1 μm, respectively. The DLHCWF-300 also exhibited high tolerance on various water conditions (acidic, saline and organic dye environments) and adapted to complex properties of MNPs (different sizes, compositions and surface charges). Furthermore, the DLHCWF-300 treated water was compatible with crop cultivation, meeting the actual needs for wheat growth. The adsorbed PS MNPs can be used directly with wood flour in the preparation of wood-plastic composites. This study provides a new avenue for valorization of wood flour in water remediation through the efficient and straightforward separation of various types of plastic particles.