Sorption Kinetics of Pro-Oxidant-Loaded PE Plastic Bags in Aqueous Media
Sorption studies in aqueous media of pro-oxidant-loaded polyethylene (PE) films from commercial plastic bags are conducted. A total of 6 types of plastic bags are tested at three levels of thickness and two levels of color (transparent and opaque white). PE films are immersed in deionized water, acidic, and alkaline solutions at 60 °C. Sorption curves show that once the maximum uptake is reached, the weight change of PE films started to decline. The films showing the highest weight uptake and loss are observed in opaque films in alkaline solution. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) shows that during water immersion, both maximum weight uptake and loss are affected by colorant additive, with opaque films yielding the highest weight uptake and loss. During acid immersion, transparent films have significantly higher weight uptake than opaque films. The weight uptake during acid immersion is only affected by film thickness, with the thickest films showing the lowest weight uptake. Similar to results in water immersion, thickness is found to be insignificant to weight uptake and loss of PE films during alkali immersion. Meanwhile, colorant additive is significant to both weight uptake and loss for all films immersed in different solutions.