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Non-polymeric Chemicals or Additives Associated with Microplastic Particulate Fraction in a Treated Urban Effluent
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This study examined non-polymeric chemical additives associated with microplastic particles in treated urban wastewater effluent, finding that a portion of the particulate fraction contained plastic additives such as PVC stabilizers, plasticizers, and flame retardants. The findings highlight that microplastics in wastewater carry a complex cocktail of toxic chemical additives that are released into receiving waters.
The presence of microplastics in freshwater environments is of emerging concern, because they have been ubiquitously detected. Different adverse effects have been described in ingesting organisms: physical damage due to the plastic particles themselves, leaching of constituent monomers, the potential transport of organic and inorganic pollutants, and leaching of additives used in the manufacturing and polymerization of plastic products. In this last case, especially when additives are not chemically bound to the polymer structure, may be leached out into the aquatic environment. This paper deals with the role of wastewater treatment plants as sources of additives associated to particulate forms. A 9.0% of particulate fraction was a source of plastic additives, such as antioxidants, lubricants, corrosion inhibitors, plasticizers, adhesives, heat stabilizers or flame retardants, among others. The main plastic additives found in the wastewater samples were Zn/Ca PVC stabilizer, Methyl Tin Mercaptide (MTM), Ethoxylated Tallow Alkyl Amine (ETAA), Methyl Alkyl Imidazoline Sodium Salts (MAISS), Butyl Ricinoleate (BR), Di-o-benzamido diphenyl disulfide (DBD), RTV-730 and Molybdenum-Zinc Oxygen Complex (MZO Complex). There was a statistically significant removal of all of them after the wastewater treatment process, accounting for a 91.14%, although some of them proved to disappear in the biological reactor or even in the primary clarifier.
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Researchers reviewed how chemical additives mixed into plastics during manufacturing — including stabilizers, flame retardants, and plasticizers — can leach out throughout a plastic's lifecycle and pose risks to ecosystems and human health, with microplastics acting as carriers that concentrate and transport these hazardous chemicals.
Risk associated with microplastics in urban aquatic environments: A critical review
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This review examines the environmental risks associated with microplastics in urban aquatic systems, including their ability to bind and transport toxic chemical additives and adsorbed contaminants. The study highlights that microplastic properties influence pollutant release and sorption, and that current transport models focus too narrowly on virgin rather than environmentally aged plastics.
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Researchers investigated the leaching of persistent, mobile, and toxic (PMT) plastic additives from both new and environmentally sampled plastic items, finding that such additives can pass through conventional water treatment processes and persist in freshwater environments.
What Does the “Trojan Horse” Carry? The Pollutants Associated with Microplastics/Nanoplastics in Water Environments
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Microplastics act as tiny "Trojan horses" in water, carrying toxic chemical additives like plasticizers, flame retardants, and stabilizers that leach out as the plastic breaks down. These additives can build up in living organisms and pose risks to human health. This review maps out what we currently know about these hitchhiking pollutants and identifies major gaps in our understanding of how they behave in aquatic environments.
Microplastic in Water System: A Review of Their Impact on Environment, Current Perspective and Future Direction
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