Abstract
Plastic aging can cause alterations in the physical and chemical characteristics of plastics, as well as their behavior in the environment. Due to the extremely slow natural aging process, laboratory simulated aging methods have to be used. In this study, non-thermal plasma (NTP) was adopted to investigate the aging process of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) microplastics. Various analytical instruments, including proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry and single-particle aerosol mass spectrometry, were employed to examine and identify the organic constituents of the gas, liquid, and particle phase degradation products, as well as to monitor the degradation process. The results showed that after 90 min of aging, both PP and PET surfaces showed yellowing, and the carbonyl index of PP increased while that of PET decreased, with an increase in crystallinity. The organic components of reaction products, such as ketones, esters, acids, and alcohols, increased with longer aging times. Gas products mainly contain aromatic hydrocarbons, while particles from aged PET contain compounds with benzene rings and metal elements. Liquid products from aged PP show a significant presence of branched alkanes. Based on this analysis, degradation mechanisms of PP and PET by NTP were proposed. This investigation represents the initial systematically exploration of the release of organic substances during the degradation of microplastics mediated by NTP. It provides significant insights into the detrimental organic compounds emitted during this process, thereby offering valuable information for understanding the environmental and human health implications of natural microplastic degradation. Furthermore, it addressed the requirements for increased attention to the potential environmental risks associated with these harmful components.
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The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42277217 and 41877374).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Investigation and writing—original draft preparation were performed by Zhaofeng Cai. Resources and data curation were performed by Jixing Liu. Visualization and software were performed by Gaosheng Zhao. Methodology was performed by Bing Jia. Supervision, validation, and formal analysis were performed by Yu Shang. Conceptualization writing—reviewing and editing, conceptualization, and funding acquisition were performed by Ping Cheng.
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Cai, Z., Liu, J., Zhao, G. et al. Analysis and identification of degradation products in gas, particle, and liquid phases of polypropylene and polyethyleneterephthalate microplastics aging through non-thermal plasma simulation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 22847–22857 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-32586-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-32586-6