Environmental degradation and formation of secondary microplastics from packaging material: A polypropylene film case study

•Accelerated UV study on PP film to simulate secondary microplastics formation.•Oxidative degradation and fragmentation into sub-mm particles in less than 48 h.•Combined with arrhenius study to estimate microparticle formation time in environment.•Estimated times between 9 months and 3.2 years, depe...

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Published inPolymer degradation and stability Vol. 195; p. 109794
Main Authors Huber, Miriam, Archodoulaki, Vasiliki-Maria, Pomakhina, Elena, Pukánszky, Béla, Zinöcker, Erich, Gahleitner, Markus
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2022
Elsevier BV
Subjects
Aging (materials)
case studies
chemical degradation
climate
Degradation
Environment
environmental degradation
Microplastics
Oxidation
Packaging
Particle size distribution
Plastic pollution
Polymers
Polypropylene
polypropylenes
Simulation
Thin films
Degradation
Environment
Microplastics
Polypropylene
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Summary:•Accelerated UV study on PP film to simulate secondary microplastics formation.•Oxidative degradation and fragmentation into sub-mm particles in less than 48 h.•Combined with arrhenius study to estimate microparticle formation time in environment.•Estimated times between 9 months and 3.2 years, depending on local climate.•Wax-like oxidised products may be bio-resorbed more easily. A model study on isotactic polypropylene (iPP) films as commonly used in packaging was performed for simulating the process of microplastics formation from large-scale objects like littered packaging material,. Accelerated ultraviolet (UV) ageing in a Xenotest device resulted in chemical degradation and oxidation of the polymer, together with fragmentation into sub-mm particles, within less than 48 h. Combining the results with an independent Arrhenius study allowed an estimate of the lifetime until sub-mm particle formation between 9 months and 3.2 years, depending on location and climate. The findings offer a possible explanation for the mass loss at the lower end of the particle size distribution of environmental microplastics and the divergence between input estimates and actually detected amounts of microplastics.
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ISSN:0141-3910
1873-2321
DOI:10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2021.109794