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Evolution of Microplastics Released from Tea Bags into Water
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Researchers tested eight types of tea bags to measure how many plastic particles they release into water at different temperatures and brewing times. They found that synthetic polymer bags (nylon and polypropylene) released nanoscale particles that remained stable and resisted enzymatic breakdown, while cellulose-based particles were easily degraded. Despite high particle concentrations, the released particles showed no cytotoxicity in cell tests, likely due to their negative surface charge.
Eight different types of tea bags were investigated in this work using dynamic light scattering, electrophoretic mobility and nanoparticle tracking analysis methods to determine the concentration and size of released particles from the bag materials at different temperatures and times. Infrared spectroscopy and calorimetric methods confirmed that the bag material consisted of synthetic (nylon or polypropylene) or natural polymers (cellulose). The size of the released particles lies in the range of 200 nm-1 µm with an initial bimodal distribution and with an average diameter of about 600 nm. The concentration of released particles increases with increasing temperature and brewing time. The released particles of synthetic polymers remain quite stable and are not affected by natural enzymes, while cellulose particles are easily degraded by the proteolytic complex Morikrase. When analyzing the electrophoretic mobility, it was found that the released particles have a negative surface charge, which probably determines the absence of cytotoxicity established on the epithelial cell line Caco-2 even at the maximum values of the observed particle concentrations (14 × 109 particle/L for synthetic polymers and 170 × 109 particle/L for cellulose).
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