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Co-transport of oppositely charged microplastics and cadmium in saturated porous media: Effects of ionic strength, pH, and fulvic acid
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Tiny plastic particles in soil can either help or trap toxic cadmium, depending on the plastic's surface charge, with positively charged plastics holding cadmium back and negatively charged ones helping it spread. This matters because microplastics in soil could change how heavy metals move into water and crops, affecting the food we eat.
Microplastics (MPs) pollution is ubiquitous in soil environments, where MPs can exhibit diverse surface charge characteristics. Neglecting the surface charge polarity of MPs may hinder the accurate prediction of MPs–Cd co-transport behavior. This study combined column experiments, HYDRUS-1D simulations, and the classical Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek (DLVO) theory to investigate the co-transport of Cd with positively charged amino-modified polystyrene MPs (AMPs) or negatively charged carboxyl-modified polystyrene MPs (CMPs) under various hydrochemical conditions. The results revealed a bidirectional regulatory effect between MPs and Cd, with AMPs inhibiting Cd transport and Cd promoted AMPs transport, whereas CMPs promoted Cd transport and Cd inhibited CMPs transport. Elevated ionic strength (IS) inhibited the transport of both AMPs and CMPs but enhanced Cd transport. Alkaline conditions promoted CMPs transport by strengthening the electrostatic repulsion between CMPs and quartz sand, as evidenced by a maximum energy barrier (Φ max ) of 1751.67 K B T. Fulvic acid (FA) inhibited Cd transport but promoted the transport of both AMPs and CMPs by increasing the negative surface charge density of MPs and enhancing steric hindrance effects. This study confirms that the surface charge polarity of MPs is a key controlling factor governing the direction of their co-transport behavior with Cd. Our findings offer a critical theoretical basis for accurately predicting the combined pollution risks of MPs and heavy metals in soils.
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A study found that microplastics in soil can change how much cadmium, a toxic heavy metal, is absorbed by food crops, with the effects varying depending on soil type and the amount of plastic present. By altering soil chemistry and bacterial communities, microplastics reshape how pollutants move through farmland and into the food we eat.
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