Microplastics and associated PAHs in surface water from the Feilaixia Reservoir in the Beijiang River, China. (April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tan, Xiangling; Yu, Xubiao; Cai, Liqi; Wang, Jundong; Peng, Jinping
• Is Part Of: Chemosphere. Volume 221(2019)
• Page Start: 834
• Page End: 840
• Publication Date: 2019-04
• Subjects: Microplastics -- PAHs -- GC-MS -- Feilaixia Reservoir -- Surface water; Pollution -- Periodicals; Pollution -- Physiological effect -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Periodicals; Atmospheric chemistry -- Periodicals; 551.511
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.01.022
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0045-6535

Abstract

Abstract: Microplastics have been a prevalent and persistent contamination problem in the global aquatic environment. In particular, microplastics that can adsorb persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and therefore transfer these POPs to organisms in the aquatic environment have received much attention. In this study, an investigation of microplastics in the surface water of the Feilaixia Reservoir (Guangdong Province, China), which is an important part of people's daily lives in Guangdong Province was carried out, mainly focusing on the characteristics and spatial distribution of microplastics, as well as microplastics and their adsorded PAHs in the surface water of the Feilaixia Reservoir were investigated. The average abundance of microplastics in the surface water of the Feilaixia Reservoir was 0.56 ± 0.45 items/m 3 . Six kinds of polymers, including polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), expanded polystyrene (EPS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), were identified, among which PP (52.31%) and PE (27.39%) were the major compositions. Four shapes of microplastics, i.e., foams, films, fragments and fibers were found, and films (37.78%) being the main shape. The most common typical size of the plastic particles ranged from 0.6 to 2 mm (41.36%). The total concentration of the sixteen PAHs carried on the EPS, PE and PP microplastics ranged from 282.4 to 427.3 ng/g; chrysene, benzo [ghi] perylene, and phenanthrene were abundant in the samples, at concentrations of 39.5–89.6 ng/g, 34.6–56.8 ng/g and 25.6–45.6 ng/g, respectively. Based on the ratios of the PAH isomers (Flut/Py < 1 and Phe/Ant >10), it was speculated that the source of the PAHs may be derived from the imperfect combustion of fossil fuels. Highlights: Microplastic contamination in the surface water of the Feilaixia Reservoir was studied. Microplastics were identified as PE, PP, PS, PVC and PET, and categorized as film, fragment, foam and fiber shapes. PAHs carried on microplastics from the Feilaixia Reservoir were studied by GC/MS. The source of PAHs carried on microplastics mainly derived from the imperfect combustion of fossil fuels.