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Enrichment of Persistent Organic Pollutants in Microplastics from Coastal Waters
Summary
Researchers quantified how microplastics concentrate persistent organic pollutants compared to suspended particulate matter in coastal seawater. They found that the concentrating effect of microplastics on these pollutants was one to two orders of magnitude greater than that of natural suspended particles. The study provides precise measurements of enrichment factors, suggesting that microplastics may serve as significant carriers of toxic organic chemicals in marine environments.
Despite the adsorption of microplastics (MPs), the precise quantification of their concentrating effect on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) remains uncertain. Therefore, in this study, POPs in MPs, POPs in suspended particulate matter (SPM), and dissolved POPs in seawater were distinguished to quantify the enrichment factor (EF) for characterizing the concentrating effects of MPs and SPM on POPs. The results showed that the logarithm of EF (log EF) for POPs in MPs was 5.94 to 7.14. For POPs, the concentrating effect of MPs was 1 to 2 orders of magnitude greater than that of SPM. Moreover, for PCDD/Fs, PBDD/Fs, and PBDEs, the concentrating effect of MPs was roughly comparable to that of organic matter in SPM, while it was 1 to 2 orders of magnitude higher than that of organic matter for dioxin-like PCBs and PBBs. The MPs were prone to sorbing highly toxic POP congeners. When the logarithm of the n-octanol-water partition coefficient (log KOW) of POP homologues ranged from 5.5 to 8.25, the log EF for POP homologues in MPs approximately was between 5 and 7. The heterogeneous MPs from the field environment affected their capacity to sorb POPs, causing a nonsignificant correlation between the enrichment factor and log KOW.