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Real-world natural passivation phenomena can limit microplastic generation in water
Chemical Engineering Journal2021
13 citations
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Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Score: 35
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0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Luming Yang,
Dunzhu Li,
Yunhong Shi,
Dunzhu Li,
Dunzhu Li,
Dunzhu Li,
Yunhong Shi,
Dunzhu Li,
Yunhong Shi,
Yunhong Shi,
Dunzhu Li,
Yunhong Shi,
Yunhong Shi,
Yunhong Shi,
Dunzhu Li,
Yunhong Shi,
Dunzhu Li,
Jing Jing Wang,
Jing Jing Wang,
Jing Jing Wang,
Yunhong Shi,
Dunzhu Li,
Dunzhu Li,
Dunzhu Li,
Dunzhu Li,
Yunhong Shi,
Dunzhu Li,
Luming Yang,
Yunhong Shi,
Emmet D. Sheerin,
Dunzhu Li,
Yunhong Shi,
Dunzhu Li,
Dunzhu Li,
Yunhong Shi,
Yunhong Shi,
Luming Yang,
Luming Yang,
Luming Yang,
Yunhong Shi,
Yunhong Shi,
Yunhong Shi,
Yunhong Shi,
Yunhong Shi,
Yunhong Shi,
Yunhong Shi,
Yunhong Shi,
Liwen Xiao,
Liwen Xiao,
Yunhong Shi,
Yunhong Shi,
Dunzhu Li,
Dunzhu Li,
Jing Jing Wang,
Yunhong Shi,
Yunhong Shi,
Jing Jing Wang,
Liwen Xiao,
Emmet D. Sheerin,
Yunhong Shi,
Yunhong Shi,
Yunhong Shi,
Liwen Xiao,
Emmet D. Sheerin,
Yunhong Shi,
Yunhong Shi,
Yunhong Shi,
Liwen Xiao,
Luming Yang,
Liwen Xiao,
Liwen Xiao,
Luming Yang,
Daragh Mullarkey,
Yunhong Shi,
Emmet D. Sheerin,
Luming Yang,
Daragh Mullarkey,
Yunhong Shi,
Daniel K. Kehoe,
Daniel K. Kehoe,
Daniel K. Kehoe,
Luming Yang,
Daniel K. Kehoe,
Daniel K. Kehoe,
Daniel K. Kehoe,
Yunhong Shi,
Emmet D. Sheerin,
Emmet D. Sheerin,
Yunhong Shi,
Luming Yang,
Daniel K. Kehoe,
Emmet D. Sheerin,
Emmet D. Sheerin,
Liwen Xiao,
John J. Boland
Luming Yang,
Luming Yang,
Luming Yang,
Luming Yang,
Luming Yang,
Daniel K. Kehoe,
Yurii K. Gun’ko,
Daniel K. Kehoe,
Daniel K. Kehoe,
Liwen Xiao,
John J. Boland
Jing Jing Wang,
Liwen Xiao,
Jing Jing Wang,
Emmet D. Sheerin,
Jing Jing Wang,
John J. Boland
Emmet D. Sheerin,
Sebastian Barwich,
Jing Jing Wang,
Jing Jing Wang,
John J. Boland
Dunzhu Li,
Luming Yang,
Liwen Xiao,
Luming Yang,
Yurii K. Gun’ko,
Yurii K. Gun’ko,
I. V. Shvets,
John J. Boland
John J. Boland
John J. Boland
John J. Boland
Yunhong Shi,
Liwen Xiao,
Liwen Xiao,
Yunhong Shi,
Jing Jing Wang,
Yurii K. Gun’ko,
John J. Boland
Liwen Xiao,
Jing Jing Wang,
John J. Boland
John J. Boland
Liwen Xiao,
Jing Jing Wang,
Yurii K. Gun’ko,
I. V. Shvets,
Liwen Xiao,
Liwen Xiao,
Liwen Xiao,
Liwen Xiao,
Dunzhu Li,
Jing Jing Wang,
Jing Jing Wang,
Yunhong Shi,
Yunhong Shi,
Liwen Xiao,
Matthias E. Möbius,
Liwen Xiao,
Liwen Xiao,
John J. Boland
John J. Boland
Yunhong Shi,
Yunhong Shi,
Jing Jing Wang,
Jing Jing Wang,
Dunzhu Li,
John J. Boland
Jing Jing Wang,
John J. Boland
Summary
Researchers found that regular tap water causes a thin copper oxide film to naturally form on household plastic products like kettles, reducing the release of microplastics (tiny plastic fragments) by up to 99.8% over time, suggesting that lab studies using pure deionized water have been overestimating how much plastic we actually ingest.
Previous studies using Deionized (DI) water found that household plastic products used in food preparation and storage are a local and immediate source of extremely high quantities of microplastics (MPs) released directly into to the human body and the environment. However, DI water is rarely used outside of laboratories. Here, MP release from plastic products exposed to ordinary drinking water was studied. To facilitate this study, the concept of Synthetic drinking water (SDW) was introduced, which involved preparing water in accordance with the WHO standard but modified to mimic the composition of local Tap drinking water (TDW). It was found that the level of MP released from plastics exposed to TDW and SDW are very similar, demonstrating that SDW is an appropriate real-world reference standard to test MP release levels from plastic products. In contrast with the use of DI water, plastics exposed to hot (40–100 °C) SDW and TDW showed the progressive development of a Copper (II) oxide (CuO) passivation film due to the presence of Cu2+ ions in the water samples. Similar passivation films formed on 97% of all food grade plastics. Longitudinal studies of polypropylene products (kettles) exposed to boiling TDW during normal use resulted in the continuous growth of CuO passivation films that ultimately yielded a 99.8% reduction in MP release. Engineered reductions in MP release levels were observed following separate controlled exposures to SDW with elevated Cu2+ levels, yielding denser CuO passivation films. This study underscores the importance of reproducing real world conditions in microplastic studies and also the potential for nature-inspired engineered films to mitigate against the release of MPs and the possibility of sustainable MP-free products.