The UWA Institute of Agriculture, University of Western Australia, Perth, 6009, Australia.
Ecosphere Resilience Research Center, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda, 10250, Sri Lanka.
Environ Pollut. 2024 Jul 15;353:124080. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124080. Epub 2024 Apr 29.
Microplastics are persistent pollutants discovered and extensively researched in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems but have yet to receive attention in an atmospheric context. Although recent reports stated the presence of microplastics in the air, their global existence and distribution are not critically discussed to date. This review aimed to investigate the current status of research on atmospheric microplastics through bibliometric analysis and by comparing and summarising published research on global distribution. The review also provides a summary of methods that have been used to collect samples, identify microplastics, quantify their occurrence, and determine their transport mechanisms. The bibliometric analysis revealed that atmospheric microplastic studies predominantly originated in China. Clothing, vehicle, and tire materials were the major primary sources while house furniture, construction materials, landfills, urban dust, plastic recycling processes, and agricultural sludge were precursor secondary sources. Polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyethylene terephthalate microfibres have most frequently found in indoor and outdoor atmospheres. Level of urbanization and temporal or spatial distributions governs the fate of airborne microplastics, however, the knowledge gap in the retention and circulation of microplastics through the atmosphere is still large. Many challenges and limitations were identified in the methods used, presentation of data, aerodynamic processes facilitating atmospheric transport, and scarcity of research in spatially and temporally diverse contexts. The review concluded that there was a greater need for globalization of research, methods and data standardization, and emphasizes the potential for future research with atmospheric transportation modelling and thermochemical analysis.
微塑料是持久性污染物，在海洋、淡水和陆地生态系统中被发现并得到广泛研究，但在大气环境中尚未受到关注。尽管最近有报道称空气中存在微塑料，但迄今为止，它们在全球的存在和分布情况尚未得到严格讨论。本综述旨在通过文献计量分析，并通过比较和总结全球分布的已发表研究，调查大气微塑料研究的现状。本综述还总结了用于收集样品、识别微塑料、量化其出现以及确定其传输机制的方法。文献计量分析表明，大气微塑料研究主要起源于中国。服装、车辆和轮胎材料是主要的原始来源，而房屋家具、建筑材料、垃圾填埋场、城市灰尘、塑料回收过程和农业污泥是前体次要来源。室内和室外大气中最常发现的微纤维是聚乙烯、聚丙烯和聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯。城市化为大气中微塑料的归宿，时空分布规律提供了指导，但微塑料通过大气保留和循环的知识空白仍然很大。在使用的方法、数据呈现、促进大气传输的空气动力学过程以及在空间和时间上多样化的背景下研究的稀缺性方面，都确定了许多挑战和局限性。本综述的结论是，需要加强研究、方法和数据标准化的全球化，并强调未来在大气输送模型和热化学分析方面进行研究的潜力。
