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Polystyrene nanoplastics reshape the anaerobic granular sludge for recovering methane from wastewater

Water Research 2020 170 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 55 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Zhijie Chen, Zhijie Chen, Zhijie Chen, Bing‐Jie Ni Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Zhijie Chen, Zhijie Chen, Zhijie Chen, Bing‐Jie Ni Zhijie Chen, Zhijie Chen, Zhijie Chen, Zhijie Chen, Wei Wei, Bing‐Jie Ni Wei Wei, Bing‐Jie Ni Derek Hao, Teng Bao, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Zhijie Chen, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Zhijie Chen, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Zhijie Chen, Zhijie Chen, Zhijie Chen, Zhijie Chen, Zhijie Chen, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Teng Bao, Teng Bao, Wei Wei, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Bing‐Jie Ni Teng Bao, Wei Wei, Bing‐Jie Ni Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Bing‐Jie Ni Wei Wei, Bing‐Jie Ni Wei Wei, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Wei Wei, Bing‐Jie Ni Wei Wei, Wei Wei, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Wei Wei, Teng Bao, Zhijie Chen, Wei Wei, Bing‐Jie Ni Wei Wei, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Zhijie Chen, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Wei Wei, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Wei Wei, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Zhijie Chen, Bing‐Jie Ni Zhijie Chen, Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Bing‐Jie Ni Wei Wei, Bing‐Jie Ni

Summary

Researchers investigated the long-term effects of polystyrene nanoplastics on anaerobic granular sludge used for methane recovery from wastewater over a 120-day continuous test. The study found that while low nanoplastic concentrations had minimal impact, higher concentrations reshaped the microbial community structure and altered sludge performance, raising concerns about nanoplastic effects on wastewater treatment processes.

Polymers

Study Type Environmental

Wastewater has been identified as an important carrier for nanoplastics, which could elicit unintended impacts on critical microbial processes. However, the long-term impacts of nanoplastics on anaerobic granular sludge (AGS) for methane recovery from wastewater and the mechanisms involved remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the long term exposure-response relationship between polystyrene nanoplastics (Nano-PS) and AGS. In continuous test over 120 days with 86 days' Nano-PS exposure, feeding wastewater with 10 μg/L of Nano-PS had no significant impacts on the AGS performance. In comparison, higher levels (i.e., 20 and 50 μg/L) of Nano-PS decreased methane production and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal by 19.0-28.6% and 19.3-30.0%, respectively, along with volatile fatty acids (VFA) accumulation. More extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) was induced by 10 μg/L of Nano-PS as a response to protect microbes, but higher levels (i.e., 20 and 50 μg/L) of Nano-PS decreased EPS generation, causing a decline in granule size and cell viability. Fluorescence tagging found that a large number of Nano-PS agglomerated/accumulated on the outer layer of AGS and even transferred into deeper layers of AGS over exposure time, producing toxic effects to adherent microorganisms, e.g., Longilinea sp., Paludibacter sp. and Methanosaeta sp.. The oxidative stress induced by Nano-PS was revealed to be a key factor for reshaping the AGS, reflected by the increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release. The sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) leached from Nano-PS was also demonstrated to restrain the activities of antioxidant enzymes, thereby further lessening resistance to oxidative stress induced by Nano-PS. This work improves our ability to predict the risks associated with this ubiquitous contaminant in the environment.

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