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Overlooked risks of photoaging of nitrogenous microplastics with natural organic matter in water: Augmenting the formation of nitrogenous disinfection by-products

Water Research 2024 11 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 50 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Saisai Guo, Saisai Guo, Honghong Lyu, Saisai Guo, Saisai Guo, Saisai Guo, Saisai Guo, Saisai Guo, Saisai Guo, Saisai Guo, Honghong Lyu, Saisai Guo, Honghong Lyu, Jingchun Tang Honghong Lyu, Honghong Lyu, Jingchun Tang Honghong Lyu, Honghong Lyu, Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Saisai Guo, Saisai Guo, Saisai Guo, Jingchun Tang Saisai Guo, Saisai Guo, Honghong Lyu, Honghong Lyu, Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Yinghao Shi, Jingchun Tang Yinghao Shi, Saisai Guo, Honghong Lyu, Honghong Lyu, Saisai Guo, Saisai Guo, Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Saisai Guo, Jingchun Tang Saisai Guo, Honghong Lyu, Honghong Lyu, Honghong Lyu, Honghong Lyu, Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Honghong Lyu, Honghong Lyu, Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Saisai Guo, Jingchun Tang Saisai Guo, Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Honghong Lyu, Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang Jingchun Tang

Summary

Researchers discovered that when nitrogen-containing microplastics like polyamide undergo photoaging in the presence of natural organic matter, they produce significantly elevated levels of harmful nitrogenous disinfection byproducts in water. The dominant byproduct, NDMA, reached concentrations exceeding WHO guidelines at 202 ng/L. The study proposes a new theoretical framework explaining how interactions between aging microplastics and natural organic matter create previously overlooked water treatment risks.

Polymers

In aqueous environments, microplastics (MPs) undergo photoaging, releasing dissolved organic matter (DOM). Disinfection byproducts (DBPs) formation from natural organic matter (NOM) phototransformation has been reported. However, the impact of NOM on the photoaging of MPs (especially nitrogen-containing MPs) and subsequent nitrogenous DBPs (N-DBPs) formation remains unknown. Herein, this study investigated polyamide (PA) with NOM (fulvic acid [FA], humic acid [HA] and biochar-derived DOM [BDOM]) on N-DBPs formation. Results showed that the levels of the main DBPs, N-nitrosamine, formed in the FA+PA, BDOM+PA, and HA+PA systems were 3.0. 2.7 and 1.6 folds higher, respectively, compared to those in the corresponding NOM treatments. NDMA was found to be the dominant N-nitrosamine species, with the highest level of 202 ng/L, exceeding the WHO guideline of 100 ng/L. The main reactive intermediates (RIs) were O and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) during the first stage (0-3d), and •OH and RNS during the second stage (3-7d), which were confirmed by quenching experiment. For the first time, we found the formation of N-DBPs during photoaging of N-containing MPs, and proposed a two-stages, two-processes, and two-pathways theory of N-DBPs formation. This work emphasizes the importance to understand the interactions between the MPs and NOM in photoaging to better assess the risk of DBPs formation in aqueous environment.

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