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JournalISSN: 1448-2517

Environmental Chemistry 

CSIRO Publishing
About: Environmental Chemistry is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Adsorption & Fluorescence spectrometry. It has an ISSN identifier of 1448-2517. Over the lifetime, 1916 publications have been published receiving 27906 citations.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, microplastic contamination of both urban compartments (wastewater and total atmospheric fallout) and surface water in a continental environment (Greater Paris, France) was investigated.
Abstract: This study investigates the microplastic contamination of both urban compartments (wastewater and total atmospheric fallout) and surface water in a continental environment (Greater Paris, France). These first investigations on urban environment confirm the presence of microplastics in sewage, freshwater and total atmospheric fallout and provide knowledge on the type and size distribution of microplastics in the [100 µm-5 000 µm] range. For the first time, the presence of microplastics, mostly fibers, is highlighted in total atmospheric fallout (29-280 particles/m2/day). High levels of fibers were found in wastewater (260-320 x103 particles/m3). In treated effluent, the contamination significantly decreases to 14-50 x103 particles/m3. In River Seine, two sampling devices are used to collect both large and small microplastic particles: i) a plankton net (80 µm mesh) and ii) a manta trawl (330 µm mesh). Sampling with the plankton net showed a predominance of fibers with concentrations ranging from 3 to 108 particles/m3. A greater diversity of both microplastic shapes and types was encountered during manta trawl sampling but at much lower concentrations (0.28-0.47 particles/m3). This combined approach could be relevant and implemented in future studies to provide an accurate overview of microplastic distribution in freshwater.

965 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of the current state of the art in this area and also discusses likely future developments can be found in this paper, where the authors discuss areas in which significant advances are likely to be made or are needed.
Abstract: Environmental Context. The fate and behaviour of trace pollutants are very strongly modified, and usually dominated, by their physical and chemical interactions with naturally occurring aquatic colloids (defined as solid phase material with one dimension between 1 nm and 1 μm). This review summarises the area and key advances in the field of natural aquatic colloids, including technique development and quantification of colloidal structure and interactions with pollutants. The review also discusses areas in which significant advances are likely to be made or are needed and, as such, provides a framework for further work in the next few years. Abstract. Natural aquatic colloids are materials with one dimension between 1 nm and 1 μm. More informally defined, nanoparticles are materials with at least one dimension less than 100 nm. Both colloids and nanoparticles have significant effects on pollutant, nutrient, and pathogen chemistry, transport and bioavailability, and may themselves be bioavailable. Techniques for their fractionation, characterization and analysis have improved greatly in recent years. Although knowledge of their structure and environmental impact has also increased, it has not done so to the same degree and thus the field awaits the substantial application of new methodologies. This paper reviews the current state of the art in this area and also discusses likely future developments.

482 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the adsorption of metals to new and aged plastic pellets in river water, and show interactions that are dependent on time, pH and metal concentration, were studied under laboratory conditions, and the reaction kinetics largely conformed to a pseudo-first-order reversible mechanism with forward rate constants that were typically at least an order of magnitude greater for beached than virgin pellets.
Abstract: Environmental context Although microplastics are known to adsorb and transport contaminants in the aquatic environment, there is no information on the significance of the effect in fresh waters. We studied the adsorption of metals to new and aged plastic pellets in river water, and show interactions that are dependent on time, pH and metal concentration. Because metals have a higher affinity for aged pellets than for new pellets, weathered microplastics could represent a significant vehicle for the transport of metals in aquatic environments. Abstract Adsorption of trace metals (Ag, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Zn) to new (virgin) and aged (beached) plastic production pellets suspended in river water (pH ~ 6.5) has been studied under laboratory conditions. Over a 7-day period, reaction kinetics largely conformed to a pseudo-first-order reversible mechanism with forward rate constants that were typically at least an order of magnitude greater for beached pellets than virgin pellets. Adsorption isotherms were defined by a linear model in many cases, with maximum distribution coefficients of ~6mL g–1 for virgin pellets (Hg and Pb) and of the order of 102mLg–1 for beached pellets (Ag and Pb). However, more significant fits to the data were obtained using Freundlich or Langmuir models with adsorption constants that were orders of magnitude greater for beached pellets than virgin pellets and, regarding the former, that were greatest for Ag, Hg and Pb. Increasing pH of river water resulted in an increase in adsorption of Ag, Cd, Co, Ni, Pb and Zn, a reduction in adsorption of Cr and no clear trend for Cu or Hg, and adsorption was always greater to beached pellets than virgin pellets. The ability of pellets to adsorb metals was attributed to the modification of the surface through the attachment of organic matter during the experiments and, with regard to beached pellets, their long-term pre-modification through photooxidation and attrition of charged material. Interactions at the pellet surface likely involve metal cations, oxyanions (HCrO4–/CrO42–) and organic complexes.

401 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This review highlights recent findings and discusses open questions, focusing on the methodology of assessing this contaminant in freshwater ecosystems, including sampling strategies, sample treatment, and reliable analytical methods to identify microplastics.
Abstract: Massive accumulation of plastic particles has been reported for marine ecosystems around the world, posing a risk to the biota. Freshwater ecosystems have received less attention despite the majority of plastic litter being produced onshore and introduced into marine environments by rivers. Some studies report not only the presence of microplastics in freshwater ecosystems, but show that contamination is as severe as in the oceans. In continental waters microplastics have been observed in both sediments (predominantly lakeshores but also riverbanks) and water samples (predominantly surface water of lakes and rivers). This review highlights recent findings and discusses open questions, focusing on the methodology of assessing this contaminant in freshwater ecosystems. In this context, method harmonization is needed in order to obtain comparable data from different environmental compartments and sites. This includes sampling strategies (at spatial and temporal 18 scales), sample treatment (taking into consideration high levels of organic matter and suspended 19 solids) and reliable analytical methods to identify microplastics.

385 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used a focal plane array detector-based micro-Fourier transform infrared imaging for analysis of microplastics from environmental samples, and they were able to successfully measure the whole surface (>10-mm diameter).
Abstract: The pollution of the environment with microplastics (plastic pieces ,5 mm) is a problem of increasing concern. However, although this has been generally recognised by scientists and authorities, the analysis of microplastics is often done by visual inspection alone with potentially high error rates, especially for smaller particles. Methods that allow for a fast and reliable analysis of microplastics enriched on filters are lacking. Our study is the first to fill this gap by using focal plane array detector-based micro-Fourier-transform infrared imaging for analysis of microplastics from environmental samples. As a result of ouriteratively optimised analytical approach (concerningfilter material, measuring mode, measurement parameters and identification protocol), we were able to successfully measure the whole surface (>10-mm diameter) of filters with microplastics from marine plankton and sediment samples. The measurement with a highlateralresolutionallowedforthedetectionofparticlesdowntoasizeof20mminonlyafractionalpartoftimeneeded for chemical mapping. The integration of three band regions facilitated the pre-selection of potential microplastics of the ten most important polymers. Subsequent to the imaging the review of the infrared spectra of the pre-selected potential microplastics wasnecessaryforaverificationofplastic polymerorigin.Theapproachwepresenthereishighlysuitableto be implemented as a standard procedure for the analysis of small microplastics from environmental samples. However, a further automatisation with respect to measurement and subsequent particle identification would facilitate the even faster and fully automated analysis of microplastic samples. Additional keywords: microplastic analysis, microplastic detection, microplastic identification.

380 citations

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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers from the Journal in previous years
YearPapers
202133
202055
201961
201847
201755
201687