Chemical and physical changes of microplastics during sterilization by chlorination

Kelkar, Varun; Rolsky, Charles; Pant, Anupum; Green, Matthew D.; Tongay, Sefaattin; Halden, Rolf U.

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2019.114871

Cited by 116 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…However, before microorganisms can begin to attack PE, they need access points in the PE structure to start fragmentation. Thus, initially, oxidation of PE polymers occurs through abiotic process, such as exposure to ultraviolet (UV) irradiation [59] in combination with heat [60] and/or chemicals in the environment [61], without the action of microbes.…”

Section: Abiotic Deterioration Of Pementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The plot of 1640-1850 cm −1 range of carbonyl groups, as determined by the overlapping bands corresponding to acids (1710-1715 cm −1 ), ketones (1714 cm −1 ), aldehydes (1725 cm −1 ), ethers (1735 cm −1 ), and lactones (1780 cm −1 ) can reveal the presence of different oxidized products. Yamada-Onodera et al [65], Gilan et al [36], Hassan et al [33], Yashchuck et al [26], Abrusci et al [61], and Vimala and Mathew [50] all report UV-light as the most applicable method of photo-oxidation in PE biodegradation experiments. Figure 1 shows degradation pathways of polyethylene and production of different carbonyl group.…”

Section: Abiotic Deterioration Of Pementioning

confidence: 99%

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Challenges with Verifying Microbial Degradation of Polyethylene

2020

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Polyethylene (PE) is the most abundant synthetic, petroleum-based plastic materials produced globally, and one of the most resistant to biodegradation, resulting in massive accumulation in the environment. Although the microbial degradation of polyethylene has been reported, complete biodegradation of polyethylene has not been achieved, and rapid degradation of polyethylene under ambient conditions in the environment is still not feasible. Experiments reported in the literature suffer from a number of limitations, and conclusive evidence for the complete biodegradation of polyethylene by microorganisms has been elusive. These limitations include the lack of a working definition for the biodegradation of polyethylene that can lead to testable hypotheses, a non-uniform description of experimental conditions used, and variations in the type(s) of polyethylene used, leading to a profound limitation in our understanding of the processes and mechanisms involved in the microbial degradation of polyethylene. The objective of this review is to outline the challenges in polyethylene degradation experiments and clarify the parameters required to achieve polyethylene biodegradation. This review emphasizes the necessity of developing a biochemically-based definition for the biodegradation of polyethylene (and other synthetic plastics) to simplify the comparison of results of experiments focused for the microbial degradation of polyethylene.

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Section: Abiotic Deterioration Of Pementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Abiotic Deterioration Of Pementioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges with Verifying Microbial Degradation of Polyethylene

2020

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“…A step forward in this direction can be considered the study by Enfrin et al [65] specifically tackling the kinetic and mechanistic aspects of membrane fouling by MPs and NPs [65]. The chemical agents used in oxidation and disinfection might have some effects on the particles but this aspect is also yet to be fully assessed [62,66].…”

Section: Microplastics Presence and Fate In Drinking Water Treatment mentioning

confidence: 99%

Presence and fate of microplastics in the water sources: focus on the role of wastewater and drinking water treatment plants

Barchiesi

Chiavola

Marcantonio

et al. 2021

Journal of Water Process Engineering

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Microplastics are nowadays considered as ubiquitous pollutants since have been found widespread in all environmental compartments, particularly in the water sources. In the urban water cycle, the drinking water treatment plants and the wastewater treatment plants are the first and last barriers to microplastics pollution, respectively. The present work aims at presenting the information available on microplastic presence in the urban water cycle, reporting and linking what is known at the different stages. Focus is on the water sources and on the role of the water treatment plants as source and control of microplastics pollution. Aspects evaluated are microplastics abundance, characterization in terms of morphology, size and polymer composition, spatial and temporal variations, factors influencing their distribution and abundance, effects of treatments on their removal. Up to now there is no common framework for microplastics collection, sample pre-treatment, identification, quantification and classification. Data comparison is hindered due to the various analytical protocols implemented; hence the conclusions driven are mostly indicative or of very local significance. The available information is not evenly distributed among the urban water cycle components. For the establishment of proper microplastics pollution control strategies, the relative role of wastewater and drinking water treatment plants needs to be better deepened in terms of both quantity and quality effects. All these aspects are afforded in the present review which is based on the more recent data published by the specialized literature.

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“…Secondly, PNPs are often not pristine, but they contain – next to the actual polymer – additional compounds. These can be amphiphilic molecules adsorbed onto the PNPs surface (e. g. amino acids with non‐polar side chains), and thereby solubilizing it in a micelle‐like structure, or polar substituents on the polymer chains, produced by the partial oxidation of the PNP surface by air and sunlight or oxidative wastewater treatment . For weathered macroscopic polyethylene species, both processes have been observed through spectroscopic measurements .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These can be amphiphilic molecules adsorbed onto the PNPs surface [30,86] (e. g. amino acids with non-polar side chains [30] ), and thereby solubilizing it in a micelle-like structure, or polar substituents on the polymer chains, produced by the partial oxidation of the PNP surface by air and sunlight [87,88] or oxidative wastewater treatment. [89] For weathered macroscopic polyethylene species, both processes have been observed through spectroscopic measurements. [87] Whilst the former structures can be removed from the PNP during the phase transfer, solvated thereafter separately from the PNP in either of the two phases, the latter ones are covalently attached to the particle, and therefore they must enter the IL phase together with the rest of the PNP.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ionic Liquids as Extractants for Nanoplastics

2020

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Plastic waste in the ocean and on land in the form of nanoplastics is endangering food and drinking water supplies, raising the need for new strategies for the removal of plastic nanoparticles from complex media. In the present contribution we suggest considering ionic liquids as extractants, since they show several advantageous properties that may facilitate the design of efficient separation processes. Through varying the anion and the side chain at the cation, the interactions between the extractant and the polymer can be strengthened and tuned, and thereby the disintegration of the particle into separate polymer chains can be controlled. Oxidized moieties can also be efficiently solvated, given the amphiphilic nature of the considered ionic liquids, allowing also realistic particles to be extracted into these solvents. The phase transfer was found to be thermodynamically and kinetically possible, which is supported by the complicated structure of the ionic liquid-water interface through the rearrangement of the interfacial ions, and the formation of a micelle around the plastic already at the edge of the aqueous phase.

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Chemical and physical changes of microplastics during sterilization by chlorination

Cited by 116 publications

References 25 publications

Challenges with Verifying Microbial Degradation of Polyethylene

Challenges with Verifying Microbial Degradation of Polyethylene

Presence and fate of microplastics in the water sources: focus on the role of wastewater and drinking water treatment plants

Ionic Liquids as Extractants for Nanoplastics

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