Accurate quantification and transport estimation of suspended atmospheric microplastics in megacities: Implications for human health

Although atmospheric microplastics have been found to be ubiquitous even on untraversed mountains and have potential impacts on human health, little information concerning their sampling methodology and transport is currently available. Until a realistic quantification of suspended atmospheric microplastics (SAMPs) is obtained, however, any potential health risk assessment for this pollutant will be open to criticism for using an ambiguous dataset. To address this knowledge gap, in May 2019 a trial experiment was performed to explore the potential relationship between sampling volume and SAMP abundance. A significant logarithmic regression between SAMP abundance and the sampling volume of filtrated air was found and the sufficient volume of filtrated air for accurate SAMP quantification was recommended. Investigation results indicated that fibrous and fragment-shaped SAMPs comprised 91% of all of the identified synthetic particles. Interestingly, for the first time, plastic microbeads were also observed in the collected air, constituting 9% of the all of the SAMPs by quantity. Spectral analysis revealed that these SAMPs consisted of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), epoxy resin (EP), polyethylene (PE), alkyd resin (ALK), rayon (RY), polypropylene (PP), polyamide (PA), and polystyrene (PS). PET, EP, PE, and ALK constituted the majority (90%) of all of the polymer types, with quantitative percentages of 51%, 19%, 12%, and 8%, respectively. Based on our numerical modeling simulation, the approximate transport flux of SAMPs during June in Shanghai was estimated, ranging from 9.94 × 10⁴ n/(m·d) to 6.52 × 10⁵ n/(m·d), with a mean of 3.00 ± 1.58 × 10⁵ n/(m·d). The goal of our study was to provide an essential methodological aid for the accurate determination of SAMPs in the environment and a better understanding of terrestrial microplastic transport in megacities.