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Sorption of pharmaceuticals and personal care products to polyethylene debris

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Abstract

Presence of plastic debris in marine and freshwater ecosystems is increasingly reported. Previous research suggested plastic debris had a strong affiliation for many pollutants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and heavy metals. In this study, the sorption behavior of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), including carbamazepine (CBZ), 4-methylbenzylidene camphor (4MBC), triclosan (TCS), and 17α-ethinyl estradiol (EE2), to polyethylene (PE) debris (250 to 280 μm) was investigated. The estimated linear sorption coefficients (K d) are 191.4, 311.5, 5140, and 53,225 L/kg for CBZ, EE2, TCS, and 4MBC, and are related to their hydrophobicities. Increase of salinity from 0.05 to 3.5 % did not affect the sorption of 4MBC, CBZ, and EE2 but enhanced the sorption of TCS, likely due to the salting-out effect. Increase of dissolved organic matter (DOM) content using Aldrich humic acid (HA) as a proxy reduced the sorption of 4MBC, EE2, and TCS, all of which show a relatively strong affiliation to HA. Results from this work suggest that microplastics may play an important role in the fate and transport of PPCPs, especially for those hydrophobic ones.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the National Nature Science Foundation of China (no. 41103064) and State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology (2014FBZ03 and 2015FB16) for support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Donghu South Road #7, Wuhan, 430072, People’s Republic of China

    Chenxi Wu, Kai Zhang, Xiaolong Huang & Jiantong Liu

  2. Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Kai Zhang & Xiaolong Huang

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  1. Chenxi Wu
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  2. Kai Zhang
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  3. Xiaolong Huang
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  4. Jiantong Liu
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Correspondence to Chenxi Wu.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Wu, C., Zhang, K., Huang, X. et al. Sorption of pharmaceuticals and personal care products to polyethylene debris. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 8819–8826 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6121-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6121-7

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