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Hydrophobic sorption behaviors of 17β-Estradiol on environmental microplastics
Summary
Researchers studied the sorption behavior of the estrogen 17beta-estradiol onto five types of microplastics in marine water, finding hydrophobic interactions dominated and that microplastics could serve as vectors concentrating this endocrine disruptor.
Microplastics (MPs) have been regarded as a vector for contaminants and greatly affect the migration and fate of hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) in marine water. In this study, the sorption behavior of 17β-estradiol (E2) on MPs was investigated in marine water system. The sorption capacity of E2 varied greatly with the chemical structures of MPs. The adsorption or partition contribution of E2 sorption on MPs was well quantified with adsorption-partition dual-mode model mechanism. The hydrophobic partition dominantly regulates the sorption of E2 due to the high crystallinity of MPs and high accessibility of amorphous domain of rubbery MPs. Smaller particle size benefits the sorption of E2 on same kind of MPs. The salinity and dissolved organic matter (DOM) have minor effect on E2 sorption by MPs in real marine water. The result shows that the MPs greatly influence the transportation of E2 and cause potential environmental risk to marine ecosystem.