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Aging of plastics and microplastics in the environment: a review on influencing factors, quantification methods, challenges, and future perspectives
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This review examined how plastics and microplastics age and degrade in the environment through physical, chemical, and biological processes. Researchers found that while various analytical techniques exist to measure degradation, there is no widely accepted standard method for comparing how different environmental conditions affect microplastic breakdown rates. The study highlights the need for better tools to predict how long microplastics will persist in different environments, which is essential for understanding their long-term ecological impact.
The ubiquitous presence of fragmented plastic particles needs comprehensive understanding of its fate in the environment. The long-term persistence of microplastics (MPs) in the environment is a significant threat to the ecosystem. Even though various degradation mechanisms (physical, chemical, and biological) of commonly used plastics have been demonstrated, quantifying the degradation of MPs over time to predict the consequence of plastic littering and its persistence in the environment remains a challenge. Different advanced analytical techniques have been used to quantify the degradation of MPs by introducing various parameters such as bond indices, crystallinity, and carbon-oxygen ratio. However, a simple and widely accepted reliable methodology for comparing the environmental factors and their influence on the MP degradation has yet to be developed and validated. This paper reviews a section of relevant literature (n = 38) to synthesize an overview of methods implemented for the quantification of fragmentation and aging of MPs in natural and artificial environment. In addition, the inherent weakness and extrinsic factors affecting the degradation of MPs in the environment is discussed. Finally, it proposes challenges and future scope as guideline for research on MP degradation in the environment.
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