Sorption and desorption kinetics of PFOS to pristine microplastic

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 29; no. 3; pp. 4497 - 4507
• Main Authors: Cormier, Bettie, Borchet, Flora, Kärrman, Anna, Szot, Marta, Yeung, Leo W. Y., Keiter, Steffen H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.01.2022; Springer Nature B.V; Springer Verlag
• Subjects: Adsorption; Alkanesulfonic Acids; Animals; Aquatic environment; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Biodiversity and Ecology; Chemical Sciences; Desorption; Digestive system; Digestive tract; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Environmental Sciences; Fluorocarbons; Ingestion; Kinetics; Life Sciences; Microplastics; Mimicry; Particle size; Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid; Persistent organic pollutants; PFOS; Plastic pollution; Plastics; Pollutants; Polyethylene; Polyethylenes; Polymers; Research Article; Size effects; Sorption; Toxicology; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water Pollution Control; Sorption; Polyethylene; Microplastics; PFOS
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-15923-x

The sorption processes of persistent organic pollutants on microplastics particles are poorly understood. Therefore, the present study investigated the sorption processes of perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) on polyethylene (PE) microplastic particles (MPs) which are representing a prominent environmental pollutant and one of the most abundant microplastic polymers in the aquatic environment, respectively. The focus was set on the investigation of the impact of the particle size on PFOS sorption using four different PE MPs size ranges. The sorption kinetics for 6 months was studied with one selected size range of PE MPs. Besides, the desorption of PFOS from PE MPs under simulated digestive conditions was carried out by using artificial gut fluid mimicking the intestinal juice of fish. The investigation of the size effects of particles over 6 months demonstrated a linear increase of PFOS concentration sorbed onto PE with a decrease of the particle size. Thus, our findings implicate efficient sorption of PFOS onto PE MPs of different sizes. The results showed that PFOS desorbed from the PE MPs into the artificial gut fluid with a rate of 70 to 80%. Besides, a longer exposure of PE MPs to PFOS leads to a higher concentration adsorbed by PE MPs, which may favor the ingestion of higher concentration of PFOS, and thus represents a higher risk to transfer relevant concentrations of PFOS during digestion.