Abstract
Many aging experiments on microplastics (MPs) have been carried out using UV radiation or strong oxidants. Little attention has been paid to the role of water environmental factors such as dissolved organic matter (DOM). In this study, the role of fulvic acid (FA), the main component of DOM, in the UV-aging process of MPs was explored. MPs aged under UV, and UV along with 0.5 mg/L and 2 mg/L FA, were selected as subjects. The results showed that (1) FA accelerated the aging process of polyethylene (PE). PE aged with FA had a larger specific area (SBET), with more holes and cracks on the surface. (2) FA enhanced the adsorption capacity of PE. The TC adsorption quantities of 0, 0.5, and 2 mg/L FA-aged PE were 1.100, 1.447, and 1.812 mg/L, respectively. (3) The quantity of TC desorbed by PE increased, whereas the desorption rate decreased as the FA concentration increased. The desorption rates of TC at 0, 0.5, and 2 mg/L FA-aged PE were 25.16%, 22.05%, and 19.52% in water, and 72.10%, 70.36%, and 59.51% in simulated intestinal fluid. This study explored the role of FA in the aging process of MPs. Moreover, research on the aging mechanism of MPs is enriched.
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Funding
We are grateful for the grants for the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 52000153), the Xuzhou Key Research and Development Plan Project (social development) (no. KC20163), the Water Conservancy Technology Project of Jiangsu Province (no. 2021077), and the Jiangsu Association for Science and Technology Young Scientific and Technological Talents Project (TJ-2021–061).
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XF did the definition, conceptualization, methodology, validation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, writing-original draft, visualization, writing-review and editing, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition job. YX did the definition, conceptualization, methodology, validation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, and writing job. SQ did the review and editing job. YX did the review and editing job. QC did the review and editing. YY did the review and editing job. JL did the review and editing job. JZ did the review and editing, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition job. JH did the review and editing, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition job.
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Fan, X., Xie, Y., Qian, S. et al. Insights into the characteristics, adsorption and desorption behaviors of microplastics aged with or without fulvic acid. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 10484–10494 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22897-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22897-x