Thorsten Hüffer, Anne-Katrin Weniger, Thilo Hofmann,

Sorption of organic compounds by aged polystyrene microplastic particles,

Environmental Pollution, Volume 236, May 2018, Pages 218-225, ISSN 0269-7491,

Abstract:

Microplastics that are released into the environment undergo aging and interact with other substances such as organic contaminants.
Understanding the sorption interactions between aged microplastics and organic contaminants is therefore essential for evaluating the impact of microplastics on the environment. There is little information available on how the aging of microplastics affects their sorption behavior and other properties. We have therefore investigated the effects of an
accelerated UV-aging procedure on polystyrene microplastics, which are used in products such as skin cleaners and foams.
Physical and chemical particle characterizations showed that aging led to significant surface oxidation and minor localized microcrack formation. Sorption coefficients of organic compounds by polystyrene microplastics following
aging were up to one order of magnitude lower than for pristine particles. Sorption isotherms were experimentally determined using a diverse set of probe sorbates covering a variety of substance classes allowing an in-depth evaluation of the poly-parameter linear free-energy relationship (ppLFER) modelling used to investigate the contribution of individual molecular interactions to overall sorption. The ppLFER modelling was validated using internal cross-validation, which confirmed its robustness. This approach therefore yields improved estimates of the
interactions between aged polystyrene microplastics and organic contaminants.
Keywords: Adsorption; Photooxidation; Polymer particles; Fate; Transport

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lxQ23XpLlVjn4Tcs1Odvch1jFM2xetr5

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2018.01.022.(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749117349977)