Cotransport of microplastics and sulfanilamide antibiotics in groundwater: The impact of MP/SA ratio and aquifer media

Shuo Li; Mingxiang Yang; Hao Wang; Yunzhong Jiang

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2022.114403

Cotransport of microplastics and sulfanilamide antibiotics in groundwater: The impact of MP/SA ratio and aquifer media

Environ Res. 2023 Feb 1:218:114403. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114403. Epub 2022 Oct 13.

Authors

Shuo Li¹, Mingxiang Yang², Hao Wang³, Yunzhong Jiang³

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, Beijing, 100038, China; China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, 100038, China; College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Qingdao University, Qingdao, China; Carbon Neutrality and Eco-Environmental Technology Innovation Center of Qingdao, Qingdao, 266071, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, Beijing, 100038, China; China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, 100038, China. Electronic address: yangmx@iwhr.com.
³ State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, Beijing, 100038, China; China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, 100038, China.

PMID: 36243053
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114403

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the aquifer media, structure type, and initial concentration ratio of contaminants on the cotransport behavior of microplastics (MPs) and sulfanilamide antibiotics (SAs) through a series of one-dimensional column experiments in groundwater. Under a single suspension system, the relative mass recovery rates of fine sand, medium sand, and coarse sand were 25.65%, 37.50%, and 57.91%, respectively. The breakthrough curve of MPs showed a weak and slow upward trend, indicating that the migration of MPs in aqueous media is mainly blocked by the surface. The migration results of different structure type on SAs (ST, SM, SM2, SMX) in a single suspension system indicated that the deposition rate coefficients (k_c) of the four SAs were 1.23 × 10^-1, 9.09 × 10^-2, 1.11 × 10^-1, and 8.87 × 10^-2. Under a binary suspension system (MPs:ST = 1:1), the maximum effluent concentration (MEC) of MPs in fine sand, medium sand, and coarse sand increased to 0.52, 0.64, and 0.88, respectively, and the relative mass recovery rates of ST were 22.79%, 23.59%, 20.25%. This results show that the coexistence of MPs and SAs significantly promotes the migration of MPs and inhibits that of SAs. It is mainly because of their carrier action, adsorption sites and additional deposit sites for MPs through SAs pre-deposition on media. When the initial concentration ratio was 2:1, the particles had the highest Zeta potential (-48.3 mV) and the highest potential barrier (3200 kBT), leading to the formation of complex aggregates (MPs-SAs-MPs) owing to the aggregation of colloidal MPs. The increase in the volume and number of MPs-SAs co-aggregates on the surface of the media as the initial concentration of MPs increases, which was mainly due to the disappearance of surface blocking effect and the occurrence of filtering maturation effect.

Keywords: Derjaguin–landau–verwey–overbeek theory; Groundwater; Microplastics; Migration behavior; Sulfanilamide antibiotics.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Groundwater* / chemistry
Microplastics*
Plastics
Sand
Sulfanilamide
Suspensions

Substances

Microplastics
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Sulfanilamide
Plastics
Sand
Suspensions