The adsorption of PAHs on microplastics and desorption in the simulated human digestive system

Abstract

Plastic debris is widely distributed in the aquatic environment and interacts with other pollutants. Microplastics (MPs) have a stronger binding ability with pollutants and could unconsciously ingested by humans, thus becoming the carrier of pollutants into the human body and affecting human health. In this study, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were selected as model pollutants, polyethylene (PE) and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) were selected as research objects. The adsorption of PAHs on different kinds of MPs and desorption behavior in a simulated human digestive system were systematically studied. The results indicated that PAHs with higher molecular weight were more easily adsorbed on MPs, and the adsorption efficiency of PAHs on PE was 1.4–3.8 times higher than PMMA. The desorption experiments were conducted in simulated gastrointestinal fluid, the activity of enzymes directly affected the desorption of PAHs, and the desorption efficiency of PAHs from the surfaces of PMMA (0.7–41.6 %) was significantly higher than PE (0.8–27.7 %). For 15 PAHs, the desorption efficiency from the surfaces of PE decreased gradually with the number of PAHs rings, which was opposite to PMMA. Molecular dynamics simulation showed that enzymes in digestive fluid attenuated the interaction energy between MPs and PAHs, resulting in substantial desorption of PAHs from the surfaces of MPs. The risk assessment demonstrated that the carcinogenic risk of PAHs desorption from PMMA was higher than PE. This study helps understand the adsorption of PAHs on MPs and the potential health risks of accidental ingestion by humans.