Key Laboratory of Soil Contamination Bioremediation of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China; Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai 264003, China.
Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai 264003, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2018 Mar;616-617:1505-1512. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.10.163. Epub 2017 Oct 28.
Chemical pollution in the microplastics has been concerned worldwide as pollutants might potentially transfer from the environment to living organisms via plastics. Here, we investigate organophosphorus esters (OPEs) and phthalic acid esters (PAEs) in the beached microplastics collected from 28 coastal beaches of the Bohai and Yellow Sea in north China. The analyzed microplastics included polyethylene (PE) pellets and fragments, polypropylene (PP) flakes and fragments and polystyrene (PS) foams. The tris-(2-chloroethyl)-phosphate (TCEP), tris (1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCPP) and di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) were the three predominant compounds found overall. The maximum Σ4 OPEs concentration was 84,595.9ngg, almost three orders of magnitude higher than the maximum Σ9 PAEs concentration. The PP flakes and PS foams contained the highest concentrations of the additives in contrast to the PE pellets which contained the lowest. The high concentration level of carcinogenic chlorinated OPEs and DEHP with endocrine disrupting effects implied the suggested potential hazards to coastal organisms. Spatial differences and compositional variation of the additives among the different microplastics suggests different origins and residence times in the coastal environment. This indicates that the characteristics of chemical additives might be a useful approach when tracing sources of microplastics in the environment.
微塑料中的化学污染物已引起全球关注，因为污染物可能通过塑料从环境转移到生物体中。在这里，我们研究了来自中国北部渤海和黄海的 28 个沿海海滩上采集的海滩微塑料中的有机磷酸酯（OPEs）和邻苯二甲酸酯（PAEs）。分析的微塑料包括聚乙烯（PE）颗粒和碎片、聚丙烯（PP）薄片和碎片以及聚苯乙烯（PS）泡沫。三（2-氯乙基）磷酸酯（TCEP）、三（1-氯-2-丙基）磷酸酯（TCPP）和邻苯二甲酸二（2-乙基己基）酯（DEHP）是总体上发现的三种主要化合物。Σ4 OPEs 的最大浓度为 84,595.9ngg，几乎比最大 Σ9 PAEs 浓度高三个数量级。与含有最低添加剂浓度的 PE 颗粒相反，PP 薄片和 PS 泡沫中含有最高浓度的添加剂。具有致癌氯化 OPEs 和具有内分泌干扰作用的 DEHP 的高浓度水平表明对沿海生物存在潜在的危害。不同微塑料中添加剂的空间差异和组成变化表明了它们在沿海环境中的不同来源和停留时间。这表明化学添加剂的特性可能是追踪环境中微塑料来源的一种有用方法。
