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Plastic bottles for chilled carbonated beverages as a source of microplastics and nanoplastics

Water Research 2023 102 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 65 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Yuanling Luo, Yuanling Luo, Yuanling Luo, Yuanling Luo, Anqi Kang, Weiping Xiong, Anqi Kang, Yalin Chen, Weiping Xiong, Meiying Jia, Yuanling Luo, Yuanling Luo, Meiying Jia, Haiyin Xu, Weiping Xiong, Weiping Xiong, Yuting Ding, Zhaohui Yang, Haiyin Xu, Weiping Xiong, Yuanling Luo, Zhaohui Yang Zhaohui Yang Yuanling Luo, Weiping Xiong, Weiping Xiong, Yuting Ding, Yalin Chen, Meiying Jia, Meiying Jia, Weiping Xiong, Junguo Huang, Weiping Xiong, Yuting Ding, Yuting Ding, Junguo Huang, Zhaohui Yang Meiying Jia, Honghui Wu, Meiying Jia, Haiyin Xu, Haiyin Xu, Weiping Xiong, Jianing Han, Junguo Huang, Zhaohui Yang Jianing Han, Junguo Huang, Yuting Ding, Linjing Du, Meiying Jia, Yalin Chen, Zhaohui Yang Linjing Du, Weiping Xiong, Zhaohui Yang, Meiying Jia, Meiying Jia, Meiying Jia, Weiping Xiong, Zhaohui Yang, Anqi Kang, Anqi Kang, Zhaohui Yang Meiying Jia, Zhaohui Yang Zhaohui Yang Zhaohui Yang Zhaohui Yang, Zhaohui Yang, Meiying Jia, Weiping Xiong, Haiyin Xu, Weiping Xiong, Haiyin Xu, Zhaohui Yang, Zhaohui Yang

Summary

Scientists tested how carbonated drink bottles release microplastics and nanoplastics into beverages. Polypropylene bottles released the most particles, and cold temperatures plus carbonation increased the release. The good news is that flushing bottles with carbonated water before first use removed over 90% of loose plastic particles, suggesting a simple way to reduce exposure.

Polymers

PE PET PP

Carbonated beverages are characterized by low temperatures, multiple microbubbles, high pressure, and an acidic environment, creating ideal conditions for releasing contaminants from plastic bottles. However, the release patterns of microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) are poorly understood. We investigated the effects of plastic type, CO filling volume, temperature, sugar content, and additive on the leakage of MPs/NPs and heavy metals. Our results showed that polypropylene bottles released greater MPs (234±9.66 particles/L) and NPs (9.21±0.73 × 10 particles/L) than polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate bottles. However, subjecting the plastic bottles to 3 repeated inflation treatments resulted in 91.65-93.18% removal of MPs/NPs. The release of MPs/NPs increased with increasing CO filling volume, driven by the synergistic effect of CO bubbles and pressure. After 4 freeze-thaw cycles, the release of MPs and NPs significantly increased, reaching 450±38.65 MPs and 2.91±0.10 × 10 NPs per liter, respectively. The presence of sugar leads to an elevation in MPs release compared to sucrose-free carbonated water, while the addition of additives to carbonated water exhibits negligible effects on MPs release. Interestingly, actual carbonated beverages demonstrated higher MPs concentrations (260.52±27.18-281.38±61.33 particles/L) than those observed in our well-controlled experimental setup. Our study highlights the non-negligible risk of MPs/NPs in carbonated beverages at low temperatures and suggests strategies to mitigate human ingestion of MPs/NPs, such as selecting appropriate plastic materials, high-pressure carbonated water pretreatment, and minimizing freeze-thaw cycles. Our findings provide insights for further study of the release patterns of the contaminants in natural environments with bubbles, pressure, low temperature, and freeze-thaw conditions.

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