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Revealing the effect of humic substance compounds on the aged characteristics and release compounds profiles from photodegradation of polyethylene microplastics

Arabian Journal of Chemistry 2023 8 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 40 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Xiqing Wang Pengjiao Tian, Minghong Xie, Pengjiao Tian, Minghong Xie, Atif Muhmood, Deqing Ren, Deqing Ren, Atif Muhmood, Atif Muhmood, Deqing Ren, Minghong Xie, Minghong Xie, Deqing Ren, Atif Muhmood, Atif Muhmood, Pengjiao Tian, Pengjiao Tian, Pengjiao Tian, Pengjiao Tian, Yingjie Su, Yingjie Su, Yingjie Su, Yingjie Su, Xiqing Wang Pengjiao Tian, Pengjiao Tian, Yingjie Su, Xiqing Wang Xiqing Wang

Summary

This study investigated how humic substances (humic acid and fulvic acid) — natural organic compounds abundant in water and soil — affect how polyethylene microplastics degrade under UV light and what chemical by-products are released. Humic acid accelerated degradation more than fulvic acid, producing a wider range of oxidised breakdown compounds and releasing siloxane additives from the plastic. The findings matter because microplastics in real environments are always exposed to natural organic matter, which can substantially change both how fast they degrade and what toxic compounds they release.

Polymers

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of humic substance compounds (humic acid (HA) and fulvic acid (FA)) on the aged characteristics and release compounds profiles from polyethylene microplastics (PE-MPs). Results showed that HA promoted degree of PE-MPs photodegradation with a higher value of weight loss and oxygen atom and lower average particle size (110 μm), compared with the presence of FA during 15 days of irradiation. Likewise, the needle trap microextraction (HS-NTME) combined with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis revealed that HA and FA promoted a variety of oxygen-containing products (carboxyl acid, phenols and ketones) and siloxanes additives released from photodegradation of PE-MPs. Moreover, HA was found to have a higher ability to generate free radicals (▪OH and O2-) than FA, which accelerated the photooxidation of PE-MPs and led to the different mechanisms of photodegradation pathway of PE-MPs. These findings not only shed light on how humic substances affect photodegradation process of MPs, but also support further investigation into the possible hazard of MPs when co-existing compounds exist in the aqueous system.

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