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Sorption of Hydrophobic Organic Compounds to Plastics in the Marine Environment: Equilibrium

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Hazardous Chemicals Associated with Plastics in the Marine Environment

Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC,volume 78))

Abstract

Marine plastics have shown to contain various environmental chemicals. For evaluating the potential of plastics to influence regional and global dynamics of these chemicals and to serve as a vector to marine biota, understanding of sorption and desorption of chemicals by plastics is important. In this chapter, the equilibrium sorption of neutral organic chemicals from water to plastics is discussed. First, the basic principles of equilibrium sorption are explained, and then, factors that influence the magnitude of the sorption coefficient, such as types of plastics and chemicals, temperature, coexisting organic and inorganic constituents in water, are overviewed. Successively, effects on the equilibrium sorption properties of field-relevant mechanisms such as degradation and biofouling as well as nano-sized plastics are discussed. It is evident that studies on sorption properties of aged plastics in field conditions are far less available than those of intact plastics in laboratory conditions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Urban Research Plaza & Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka City University, Sugimoto 3-3-138, Sumiyoshi-ku, 558-8585, Osaka, Japan

    Satoshi Endo

  2. Department of Environmental Sciences, Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Albert A. Koelmans

  3. IMARES – Institute for Marine Resources & Ecosystem Studies, Wageningen UR, P. O. Box 68, 1970 AB, IJmuiden, The Netherlands

    Albert A. Koelmans

Authors
  1. Satoshi Endo
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  2. Albert A. Koelmans
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Correspondence to Satoshi Endo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry (LOG), Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo, Japan

    Hideshige Takada

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of Patras, Patras, Greece

    Hrissi K. Karapanagioti

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Endo, S., Koelmans, A.A. (2016). Sorption of Hydrophobic Organic Compounds to Plastics in the Marine Environment: Equilibrium. In: Takada, H., Karapanagioti, H.K. (eds) Hazardous Chemicals Associated with Plastics in the Marine Environment. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 78. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2016_11

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