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Characteristic of microplastics in the atmospheric fallout from Dongguan city, China: preliminary research and first evidence

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 24, pages 24928–24935 (2017)Cite this article

A Correction to this article was published on 14 November 2019

This article has been updated

Abstract

Microplastic pollution has exhibited a global distribution, including seas, lakes, rivers, and terrestrial environment in recent years. However, little attention was paid on the atmospheric environment, though the fact that plastic debris can escape as wind-blown debris was previously reported. Thus, characteristics of microplastics in the atmospheric fallout from Dongguan city were preliminarily studied. Microplastics of three different polymers, i.e., PE, PP, and PS, were identified. Diverse shapes of microplastics including fiber, foam, fragment, and film were found, and fiber was the dominant shape of the microplastics. SEM images illustrated that adhering particles, grooves, pits, fractures, and flakes were the common patterns of degradation. The concentrations of non-fibrous microplastics and fibers ranged from 175 to 313 particles/m2/day in the atmospheric fallout. Thus, dust emission and deposition between atmosphere, land surface, and aquatic environment were associated with the transportation of microplastics.

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Change history

  • 14 November 2019

    Unfortunately, the original version of this article contained two mistakes.

  • 14 November 2019

    Unfortunately, the original version of this article contained two mistakes.

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Funding

This study was financially supported from National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 41676104) and program of Science and Technology development of Dongguan city (no. 2016108101016).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Light Industry, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Liqi Cai, Jundong Wang, Jinping Peng & Xiangling Tan

  2. Dongguan Environmental Monitoring Central Station, Dongguan, 523009, China

    Zhi Tan, Zhiwei Zhan & Qiuqiang Chen

Authors
  1. Liqi Cai
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  2. Jundong Wang
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  3. Jinping Peng
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  4. Zhi Tan
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  5. Zhiwei Zhan
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  6. Xiangling Tan
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  7. Qiuqiang Chen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jinping Peng.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Cai, L., Wang, J., Peng, J. et al. Characteristic of microplastics in the atmospheric fallout from Dongguan city, China: preliminary research and first evidence. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 24928–24935 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0116-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0116-x

Keywords

  • Microplastics
  • Atmospheric fallout
  • Dongguan city
  • μ-FTIR
  • SEM