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Adsorption of BDE-209 to Polyethylene Microplastics: Effect of Microplastics Property and Metal Ions

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Abstract

In this work, the effect of polyethylene microplastics (MPs) on the adsorption of decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) in a sandy loamy soil and aqueous solution was investigated by performing batch tests. Results show that the overall adsorption capacity of soil/MPs mixture decreased slightly after MPs spiking because of the dilution effect, namely MPs were weaker receptor for BDE-209 than the soil particles. The adsorption capacity increased with reducing the MPs size. The equilibrium adsorption amount of aged MPs (4.15 mg/kg) declined apparently compared with that of the original MPs (7.63 mg/kg). According to the fitting parameters of kinetic and isothermal adsorption study, the adsorption of BDE-209 by MPs was a heterogeneous and multi-layer uneven adsorption process. The existence of Cu2+ ions or humic acid exerted a negative impact on the adsorption of BDE-209. In summary, the findings of this work underline the potential significance of MPs as contaminant carriers in co-contaminated soils.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 51974313, 51974314).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Mine Ecological Restoration, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Yanfeng Zhu, Liping Wang & Fu Chen

  2. School of Environmental Science and Spatial Informatics, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221008, China

    Yanfeng Zhu, Xiaoxiao Li & Liping Wang

  3. School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Xiaoxiao Li & Nan Hui

  4. Low Carbon Energy Institute, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221008, China

    Jing Ma & Fu Chen

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  1. Yanfeng Zhu
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  2. Xiaoxiao Li
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  4. Nan Hui
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  5. Jing Ma
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  6. Fu Chen
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Correspondence to Fu Chen.

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Zhu, Y., Li, X., Wang, L. et al. Adsorption of BDE-209 to Polyethylene Microplastics: Effect of Microplastics Property and Metal Ions. Water Air Soil Pollut 232, 494 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-021-05455-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-021-05455-y

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