Comparison of lead adsorption on the aged conventional microplastics, biodegradable microplastics and environmentally-relevant tire wear particles

Abstract

In this study, the adsorption behavior of lead (Pb(II)) onto environmentally-relevant tire wear particles (TWP) gained by natural weathering and mechanical abrasion, ultraviolet-aged polylactic acid microplastics (UV-PLA), and ultraviolet-aged polystyrene microplastics (UV-PS) was compared to investigate the difference of representative microplastics between the adsorption capacity and mechanism. Our results indicated that the aging processes significantly improved the adsorption capacity to Pb(II), and TWP had the highest adsorption amount, followed the order by UV-PLA, UV-PS, PLA and PS. Electrostatic interaction and complexation of oxygen-containing functional groups played crucial roles in the adsorption of Pb(II) onto UV-PLA, the adsorption mechanisms of UV-PS involved electrostatic interaction, complexation and cation-π interaction, while adsorption of TWP was might dominated by the complexation of surface functional groups and properties of the complex rubber co-polymer. Interestingly, the low concentration of humic acid (HA) most significantly improved adsorption capacity of aged microplastics to Pb(II), otherwise it was severely suppressed at higher concentration of HA. Besides, the adsorption behavior of different binary systems between aged microplastics and suspended sediment to Pb(II) had complicated synergistic or suppressive effects with a concentration-dependent and polymer-dependent trend. Furthermore, UV-PLA had the far stronger desorption ability of Pb(II) than that of TWP and UV-PS, suggesting that metal-contaminated biodegradable microplastics posed the higher ecological risks to aquatic organisms. Desorption quantity and rates of Pb(II) from aged microplastics in the simulated sediment system were generally higher than those in turbulent water column. Collectively, these findings provide a wide insight into adsorption capacity and mechanisms of metal ions on the representative aged microplastics and the desorption behavior in complex aquatic environments.