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Aggregation Behavior of Particulate Plastics and Its Implications
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This chapter reviews how microplastics aggregate with each other and with natural particles like sediment and algae in water, affecting their transport, fate, and biological availability. Heteroaggregation with natural colloids is more common than microplastic-to-microplastic clumping, which has important implications for how microplastics move through aquatic environments.
This chapter provides a critical overview of the existing literature investigating the aggregation of microplastics in water. There are two types of aggregation, including homoaggregation with the same type of particles and heteroaggregation with various types of particles. Heteroaggregation is prone to occur than homoaggregation for particulate plastics due to the large number of natural colloids, including suspended sediment, and organisms like algae and seaweeds in natural waters. The experimental methods including scanning electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and flow cytometry technique are applied to characterize the aggregation of particulate plastics. The size and shape of particulate plastics could affect their aggregation rates by affecting the specific surface areas and the forces between the approaching particles. Ionic strength and ion valence strongly affect the aggregation behavior of particulate plastics in water. In natural waters, aggregates of particulate plastics have dimensions from nano-meters to centimeters or larger, and this results in their various toxicity levels towards organisms.
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A review of microplastics aggregation in aquatic environment: Influence factors, analytical methods, and environmental implications
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This review examines how microplastics clump together in aquatic environments, a behavior called aggregation that affects where they end up and how available they are to organisms. Researchers evaluated the factors that influence aggregation, including water chemistry, particle size, and the presence of natural organic matter. The study identifies important gaps in field research and calls for standardized methods to better understand how aggregation shapes the environmental fate of microplastics.
Heteroaggregation of nanoplastic particles in the presence of inorganic colloids and natural organic matter
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Nanoplastics were found to heteroaggregate extensively with inorganic colloids and natural organic matter in both freshwater and marine conditions, altering their size, surface charge, and settling behavior compared to pristine particles. The study demonstrates that nanoplastic behavior in natural waters is dominated by interactions with other environmental constituents rather than the intrinsic properties of the plastic alone.
Mechanistic investigation of homo- and heteroaggregation of micro- and nanoparticles in aquatic systems
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This study investigated the aggregation behavior of micro- and nanoparticles including microplastics in aquatic systems, developing mechanistic models to understand how water chemistry and particle properties determine whether plastic particles clump together or remain dispersed — affecting their environmental fate and toxicity.
Influence of Shape on Heteroaggregation of Model Microplastics: A Simulation Study
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This simulation study examined how the shape of microplastic particles (spheres vs. fibers vs. fragments) affects how they clump together (heteroaggregate) with natural organic matter in water. Particle shape influences how far microplastics travel, where they settle, and how available they are to aquatic organisms.
Interaction, Adhesion and Aggregation of Microplastic/Nanoplastic Particles: Effects of Plastic Polymer Type
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This review examines how polymer type, particle size, shape, pH, ionic strength, and salt composition influence the interaction, adhesion, and aggregation behavior of microplastics and nanoplastics in aquatic and soil environments. The paper synthesizes findings on homoaggregation and heteroaggregation with natural and engineered nanoparticles, highlighting how aggregation affects particle transport and environmental fate.
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