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Aging-dependent cotransport of microplastics and plastic additives in soil: Contrasting vector roles, interfacial interactions, and remobilization risks.
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Weathered microplastics in landfills and soil can act like tiny taxis, carrying harmful chemicals such as BPA deeper underground toward groundwater supplies. The study found that how "aged" the plastic is, and what type it is, changes whether it traps pollutants or releases them again, meaning drinking water contamination risks may be harder to predict than previously thought.
The coexistence of microplastics (MPs) and plastic additives in subsurface environments threatens groundwater quality, yet how aging influences their interactive transport remains poorly understood. This study systematically investigated the cotransport of two prevalent polymer types (polystyrene, PS; polyvinyl chloride, PVC) and typical additives (bisphenol A, BPA; diethyl phthalate, DEP). Mechanical-thermal coupled aging was applied to simulate landfill conditions. Column experiments revealed that transport behavior is critically governed by polymer identity and aging state. In contrast to pristine MPs, aged PS exhibited enhanced mobility (mass recovery of 90.3%) and functioned as a potent contaminant carrier, whereas aged PVC acted primarily as a retention sink, with its transport impeded by aging-induced surface roughness and physical straining. Sequential pulse experiments further demonstrated that, while stationary microplastics enhance additive retention, mobile microplastic colloids can trigger a distinct secondary elution of sequestered pollutants through competitive partitioning. Mechanistic probing via atomic force microscopy (AFM) coupled with DLVO theory showed that hydrophobic interactions effectively counteract long-range electrostatic repulsion, thereby promoting contaminant capture. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations elucidated the molecular-level driving forces, identifying π-π stacking and hydrogen bonding as key binding interactions. Collectively, these findings underscore that aging fundamentally redefines microplastics as dynamic vectors, substantially amplifying the vertical dispersion risk of co-existing organic contaminants in groundwater systems.
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Microplastics in the soil-groundwater environment: Aging, migration, and co-transport of contaminants – A critical review
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This review examines how microplastics behave in the soil-groundwater environment, including how they age through weathering and oxidation, migrate through soil layers, and carry other contaminants along with them. The study suggests that aging increases the ability of microplastics to adsorb pollutants like heavy metals and pesticides, potentially facilitating their transport into groundwater supplies.
Enhanced mobility and dynamic retention of nanoplastics in mineral coated porous media.
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Scientists studied how tiny plastic particles move through different types of soil and sand that might be found in groundwater systems. They discovered that these nanoplastics travel much farther and faster through soil than previously thought, especially when water flows quickly. This matters because it suggests that plastic pollution from things like food packaging and cosmetics could spread more widely through our drinking water sources than we realized.
Microplastics transport in soils: A critical review
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Researchers reviewed how microplastics move through soil, finding that their transport depends on a complex mix of particle properties, soil chemistry, water flow, and biological activity — and that these factors often interact in ways that produce contradictory results across studies. The review maps these knowledge gaps and calls for more controlled experiments to predict where microplastics accumulate and how they might reach groundwater or crops.
Microplastics transport in subsurface environments: Mechanisms and multi-scale modeling
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Tiny plastic particles are seeping through soil into groundwater—the same water many of us drink—and this review of existing research shows scientists still struggle to predict exactly how they move underground. Because these particles behave differently than the chemicals or germs we usually track in water, current safety models may miss how far and fast they travel, which matters since they can carry other pollutants along with them. Better tracking models, which the researchers propose building, could eventually help protect drinking water supplies from this hidden contamination.
Aging Significantly Affects Mobility and Contaminant-Mobilizing Ability of Nanoplastics in Saturated Loamy Sand
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Researchers studied how aging from UV light and ozone exposure affects the mobility of nanoplastics in soil and found that aged particles traveled much farther through the soil column than pristine ones. The aged nanoplastics also carried more chemical contaminants with them as they moved. The findings suggest that weathered nanoplastics in the environment may pose greater risks for groundwater contamination than previously assumed.
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