Hydrophobic sorption behaviors of 17β-Estradiol on environmental microplastics

Xuemin Liu; Jiang Xu; Yaping Zhao; Huahong Shi; Ching-Hua Huang

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.03.162

Hydrophobic sorption behaviors of 17β-Estradiol on environmental microplastics

Chemosphere. 2019 Jul:226:726-735. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.03.162. Epub 2019 Mar 29.

Authors

Xuemin Liu¹, Jiang Xu², Yaping Zhao³, Huahong Shi⁴, Ching-Hua Huang⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, Shanghai Key Laboratory for Urban Ecological Process and Eco-Restoration, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China; Institute of Eco-Chongming, Shanghai, 200062, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China.
³ School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, Shanghai Key Laboratory for Urban Ecological Process and Eco-Restoration, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China; Institute of Eco-Chongming, Shanghai, 200062, China. Electronic address: ypzhao@des.ecnu.edu.cn.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China; Institute of Eco-Chongming, Shanghai, 200062, China.
⁵ School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332-0355, USA.

PMID: 30959457
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.03.162

Abstract

Microplastics (MPs) have been regarded as a vector for contaminants and greatly affect the migration and fate of hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) in marine water. In this study, the sorption behavior of 17β-estradiol (E2) on MPs was investigated in marine water system. The sorption capacity of E2 varied greatly with the chemical structures of MPs. The adsorption or partition contribution of E2 sorption on MPs was well quantified with adsorption-partition dual-mode model mechanism. The hydrophobic partition dominantly regulates the sorption of E2 due to the high crystallinity of MPs and high accessibility of amorphous domain of rubbery MPs. Smaller particle size benefits the sorption of E2 on same kind of MPs. The salinity and dissolved organic matter (DOM) have minor effect on E2 sorption by MPs in real marine water. The result shows that the MPs greatly influence the transportation of E2 and cause potential environmental risk to marine ecosystem.

Keywords: 17β-estradiol; Hydrophobic partition; Microplastics; Surface adsorption.

MeSH terms

Estradiol / chemistry*
Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions*
Plastics / chemistry*

Substances

Plastics
Estradiol