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Adsorption of tetracycline and Cd(II) on polystyrene and polyethylene terephthalate microplastics with ultraviolet and hydrogen peroxide aging treatment
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This study characterized microplastic pollution in beach sediments along the Atlantic coast of Portugal, identifying fragments and pellets as the dominant forms. Polyethylene and polypropylene accounted for over 70% of identified particles.
Microplastics (MPs) could serve as vectors of antibiotics and heavy metals through sorption and desorption. However, the combined adsorption process of antibiotics and heavy metals on aged MPs has rarely been studied. In this study, combined adsorption/desorption of tetracycline (TC) and Cd(II) on/from polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) MPs, as well as ultraviolet (UV) and HO aged MPs, was investigated. The specific surface areas of the MPs increased after UV and HO aging. Adsorption experiments showed that the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Freundlich model fitted adsorption of TC and Cd(II) on all of the MPs. The adsorption capacities of TC and Cd(II) were higher on aged MPs than on the pristine MPs, especially on HO treated MPs. TC adsorption on the MPs was hardly affected by Cd(II), and Cd(II) adsorption was not significantly affected by TC when the solution pH value was below 8.0. Cd(II) slightly enhanced TC adsorption on the MPs at pH 8.0, especially on the aged MPs. The TC adsorption capacities increased with increasing pH, reaching a maximum at pH 5.0 or 6.0, and they then decreased, while the largest level of Cd(II) adsorption was at approximately pH 6.0. Adsorption of TC and Cd(II) on the pristine and aged MPs was thermodynamically favorable and spontaneous. The trend of the desorption rates of TC and Cd(II) from the MPs in different background solutions was ultrapure water < surface water < simulated gastric fluid. The desorption rates of TC and Cd(II) from the aged MPs were lower than those from the pristine MPs. The results revealed the mechanism of the TC and Cd(II) combined adsorption process on aged MPs, which will provide insight for understanding the aging process and its potential effects on sorption and desorption of antibiotics and heavy metals in the real environment.
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Researchers aged polyethylene and polystyrene microplastics under UV-254 irradiation and analyzed changes in color, surface morphology, and functional groups, finding that UV aging altered the physical and chemical properties of both MPs and significantly affected their adsorption capacity and mechanism for the antibiotic tetracycline.
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Researchers studied how sequential UV aging of polystyrene, polypropylene, and polyethylene microplastics, which mimics natural weathering, affects their ability to adsorb the antibiotic tetracycline under different water chemistry conditions. They found that aged microplastics adsorbed significantly more tetracycline than pristine particles, with the effect varying by water type and plastic polymer. The study suggests that as microplastics weather in the environment, they may become increasingly effective at carrying antibiotic contaminants.
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Exposure to UVC, UVB, and UVA light at different wavelengths differentially altered the surface chemistry of polyethylene microplastics and their subsequent adsorption capacity for the antibiotic tetracycline. Shorter UV wavelengths caused more extensive surface oxidation, increasing tetracycline adsorption by up to several fold and changing the antibiotic's environmental fate.
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