Papers

20 results
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Article Tier 2

Transport and retention of polyethylene microplastics in saturated porous media: Effect of physicochemical properties

Researchers studied how polyethylene microplastics move through water-saturated sand and gravel, testing the effects of particle size, water chemistry, and flow speed. They found that smaller microplastics traveled farther through the porous material, while higher salt concentrations and lower flow rates increased particle retention. The findings help explain how microplastics may spread through groundwater systems under real-world conditions.

2025 Environmental Pollution and Management 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Attachment and detachment of large microplastics in saturated porous media and its influencing factors

Researchers investigated how large microplastics (10-20 micrometers) move through saturated sand, finding that water flow rate, particle size ratio, salinity, and pH all significantly influenced microplastic attachment and detachment in porous media.

2022 Chemosphere 39 citations
Article Tier 2

Mechanism comparisons of transport-deposition-reentrainment between microplastics and natural mineral particles in porous media: A theoretical and experimental study

Researchers compared the transport, deposition, and re-entrainment behavior of microplastic particles versus natural mineral particles in porous media, finding key differences driven by density, surface charge, and shape that affect how microplastics migrate through soils and sediments.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 30 citations
Article Tier 2

Behaviour and transport of microplastics under saturated flow conditions in sediments and soils

Researchers investigated the behaviour and transport of microplastics under saturated flow conditions in sediments and soils, examining how particle properties influence movement through porous media. The study aimed to improve understanding of subsurface microplastic fate and transport relevant to both soil and groundwater contamination.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Experimental Confirmation of the Interception History Paradigm for Colloid (Micro and Nanoparticle) Transport in Porous Media

Laboratory experiments confirmed the interception history paradigm for colloid filtration under chemically unfavorable conditions, demonstrating that microplastics and other colloidal particles follow predictable deposition patterns in porous media—providing mechanistic data relevant to modeling MP transport through soils and aquifers.

2025 Environmental Science & Technology 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Behaviour and transport of microplastics under saturated flow conditions in sediments and soils

Researchers investigated the behavior and transport of microplastics under saturated flow conditions in sediments and soils, examining how physical and chemical properties of microplastic particles influence their mobility through porous geological media. The study addressed knowledge gaps in understanding subsurface microplastic transport relevant to groundwater contamination and the fate of microplastics deposited in terrestrial environments.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Micro- and nanoplastics retention in porous media exhibits different dependence on grain surface roughness and clay coating with particle size

Researchers found that grain surface roughness and clay coatings affect the retention of microplastics and nanoplastics in porous media differently depending on particle size, with nanoplastics behaving oppositely to microplastics in certain soil conditions — complicating predictions of plastic transport in groundwater systems.

2022 Water Research 38 citations
Article Tier 2

Retention and transport behavior of microplastic particles in water-saturated porous media

Researchers investigated microplastic transport in water-saturated porous media using polystyrene microspheres, finding that particle size primarily determined retention behavior, with 50 nm particles showing high mobility while 500 nm particles exhibited greater attachment and slower migration.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 105 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics dominate the cotransport of small-scale plastics in seawater-saturated porous media

Researchers found that nanoplastics dominated cotransport behavior when mixed with submicro- and microplastics in seawater-saturated sandy porous media, with particle-particle interactions significantly altering transport distances compared to single-component systems.

2022 Water Research 21 citations
Article Tier 2

Transport and deposition of microplastic particles in saturated porous media: Co-effects of clay particles and natural organic matter

Researchers performed column experiments to study how clay particles and natural organic matter affect microplastic transport through saturated porous media, finding that both colloids reduced MP mobility through heteroaggregation and that their combined presence produced the greatest reduction in transport.

2021 Environmental Pollution 124 citations
Article Tier 2

Preliminary investigation on effects of size, polymer type, and surface behaviour on the vertical mobility of microplastics in a porous media

Laboratory sand column experiments investigated how microplastic size, polymer type, and surface chemistry influence retention and transport behavior in subsurface environments. Results showed that smaller particles and those with surface modifications traveled farther, informing predictions of microplastic migration in soils and groundwater.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 69 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics/nanoplastics in porous media: Key factors controlling their transport and retention behaviors

This review examines what controls how microplastics and nanoplastics move through soil and other porous materials like sand and sediment. Factors like particle size, shape, surface charge, water flow speed, and the presence of other pollutants all influence whether plastics stay in place or travel deeper into groundwater. Understanding these transport behaviors is important for assessing the risk of microplastics contaminating underground drinking water sources.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 43 citations
Article Tier 2

Escherichia coli and phosphate mediated the distinct retention of small-sized nano-plastic particles in seawater-saturated porous sands.

Researchers investigated the transport and retention of small nano-plastic particles (below 30 nm) in seawater-saturated sandy porous media, finding that Escherichia coli and phosphate mediated distinct retention behaviors for two differently sized nanoplastics through separate mechanisms.

2025 Journal of hazardous materials
Article Tier 2

Effects of physicochemical factors on transport and retention of polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) in homogeneous and heterogeneous saturated porous media

Researchers studied how polystyrene microplastics move through different types of underground soil and sand formations. They found that smaller sand grains, higher salt concentrations, and the presence of calcium ions all increased microplastic retention, while mixed soil layers created preferential flow paths that allowed some particles to break through faster. The findings help explain how microplastics could potentially contaminate groundwater aquifers.

2025 Environmental Geochemistry and Health 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Transport of different microplastics in porous media: Effect of the adhesion of surfactants on microplastics

Researchers investigated how surfactant adhesion on different microplastic surfaces affects their transport through porous media, finding that surfactant interactions vary with microplastic type and significantly alter their mobility in subsurface environments.

2022 Water Research 99 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of input concentration, media particle size, and flow rate on fate of polystyrene nanoplastics in saturated porous media

Researchers systematically tested how input concentration, sand grain size, and flow rate control nanoplastic transport through saturated porous media, finding that nanoplastics are highly mobile under most conditions and — crucially — fragment into smaller sub-100 nm particles during long-term release, potentially increasing their environmental persistence and bioavailability.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 27 citations
Article Tier 2

Denser microplastics migrate deeper? Effect of particle density on microplastics transport in artificial and natural porous media

Researchers conducted saturated column experiments with polyethylene microspheres of different densities in glass bead and gravel porous media to investigate how particle density affects microplastic transport behavior, finding that density significantly influences MP fate and providing transport model fits with R2 above 82.3%.

2024
Article Tier 2

The individual transport, cotransport and immobilization with solar pyrolysis biochar of microplastics and plasticizer in sandy soil

Researchers tracked the individual transport, co-transport, and immobilization of microplastics in porous media, finding that plastic particle behavior differs significantly depending on surface charge and pore structure interactions. The results improve predictions of where microplastics migrate and accumulate in soils and aquifers.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 1 citations
Article Tier 2

The selective occurrence of ripening effect makes the cotransport of various sized nanoplastics in seawater-saturated and freshwater-saturated porous media significantly different

Researchers investigated how nanoplastics of different sizes co-transport through freshwater versus seawater-saturated porous media, finding that in seawater a "ripening" effect — where deposited particles make surfaces stickier — causes nanoplastics to mutually enhance each other's retention, producing fundamentally different fate patterns than in freshwater.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Key factors controlling transport of micro- and nanoplastic in porous media and its effect on coexisting pollutants

Researchers reviewed the key factors that control how micro- and nanoplastics move through porous media such as soil and sediment, and how they affect the transport of co-occurring pollutants. They found that microplastics can either facilitate or inhibit the movement of other contaminants depending on particle properties and environmental conditions. The review emphasizes the need to better understand these co-transport dynamics for predicting the environmental fate of plastic pollution.

2021 Environmental Pollution 89 citations