Characterization of solid and liquid carbonization products of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and investigation of the PVC-derived adsorbent for the removal of organic compounds from water

The transformation of plastic wastes into value-added carbon materials is a promising strategy for the recycling of plastics. Commonly used polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics are converted into microporous carbonaceous materials using KOH as an activator via simultaneous carbonization and activation for the first time. The opti-mized spongy microporous carbon material has a surface area of 2093 m2 g-1 and a total pore volume of 1.12 cm3 g-1, and aliphatic hydrocarbons and alcohols are yielded as the carbonization by-products. The PVC-derived carbon materials exhibit outstanding adsorption performance for removing tetracycline from water, and the maximum adsorption capacity reaches 1480 mg g-1. The kinetic and isotherm patterns for tetracycline adsorption follow the pseudo-second-order and Freundlich models, respectively. Adsorption mechanism inves-tigation indicates that pore filling and hydrogen bond interaction are mainly responsible for the adsorption. This study provides a facile and environmentally friendly approach for valorizing PVC into adsorbents for wastewater treatment.

Automated summary

In this study, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics were transformed into microporous carbon materials using KOH as an activator. The optimized carbon material showed a high surface area and pore volume, and the carbonization process yielded aliphatic hydrocarbons and alcohols. The PVC-derived carbon materials exhibited excellent adsorption performance for removing tetracycline from water. This study provides a facile and environmentally friendly approach for valorizing PVC into adsorbents for wastewater treatment.