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Deposition of environmentally relevant nanoplastic models in sand during transport experiments
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This study tracked how environmentally relevant nanoplastic models move through sand columns in laboratory conditions, finding they can be transported substantial distances in groundwater. The findings raise concerns about nanoplastic contamination of soil and aquifer systems, which are critical sources of drinking water.
Nanoplastics (NPTs) are defined as colloids that originated from the unintentional degradation of plastic debris. To understand the possible risks caused by NPTs, it is crucial to determine how they are transported and where they may finally accumulate. Unfortunately, although most sources of plastic are land-based, risk assessments concerning NPTs in the terrestrial environmental system (soils, aquifers, freshwater sediments, etc.) have been largely lacking compared to studies concerning NPTs in the marine system. Furthermore, an important limitation of environmental fate studies is that the NPT models used are questionable in terms of their environmental representativeness. This study describes the fate of different NPT models in a porous media under unfavorable (repulsive) conditions, according to their physical and chemical properties: average hydrodynamic diameters (200-460 nm), composition (polystyrene with additives or primary polystyrene) and shape (spherical or polymorphic). NPTs that more closely mimic environmental NPTs present an inhomogeneous shape (i.e., deviating from a sphere) and are more deposited in a sand column by an order of magnitude. This deposition was attributed in part to physical retention, as confirmed by the straining that occurred for the larger size fractions. Additionally, different Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) models -the extended DLVO (XDLVO) and a DLVO modified by surface element integration (SEI) method-suggest that the environmentally relevant NPT models may alter its orientation to diminish repulsion from the sand surface and may find enough kinetic energy to deposit in the primary energetic minimum. These results point to the importance of choosing environmentally relevant NPT models.
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Secondary nanoplastic transport in sand and in soil
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Scientists studied how tiny plastic particles called nanoplastics move through sand and soil after being broken down in the environment for many years. They found that different types of plastic particles move differently underground - some get stuck while others travel further - depending on the plastic type and soil conditions. This research helps us better understand how these microscopic plastic pieces might spread through groundwater and potentially reach drinking water sources, which could affect human health.
Secondary plastic nanoparticle transport and retention in sand and soil
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When plastic breaks down in the environment, the resulting nanoparticles move through soil and sand differently depending on what type of plastic they came from and how weathered they are, meaning some tiny plastic bits could travel further and potentially reach groundwater more easily than others. This matters because most lab studies use simple plastic beads that don't behave like real-world weathered plastic, so this research suggests we may be underestimating how varied and unpredictable plastic contamination in our water and soil actually is.
Studying the transport and retention of naturally occurring microplastics (MPs) in sandy soils using column experiments
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Scientists used laboratory experiments to study how microplastics move through sandy soils, which is relevant for understanding whether they can reach groundwater used for drinking. The findings help assess the risk of microplastic contamination in underground water supplies.
Enhanced mobility and dynamic retention of nanoplastics in mineral coated porous media.
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Scientists studied how tiny plastic particles move through different types of soil and sand that might be found in groundwater systems. They discovered that these nanoplastics travel much farther and faster through soil than previously thought, especially when water flows quickly. This matters because it suggests that plastic pollution from things like food packaging and cosmetics could spread more widely through our drinking water sources than we realized.
Quantitative Linking of Nanoscale Interactions to Continuum-Scale Nanoparticle and Microplastic Transport in Environmental Granular Media
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Researchers successfully linked the atomic-scale forces between plastic nanoparticles and sand grains to predictions of how those particles move through soil and groundwater at larger scales. This advances the ability to model microplastic transport in the environment, which is important for assessing contamination of drinking water sources.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.