Physicochemical properties of styrene oligomers in the environment

Currently, styrene oligomers (SOs) are persistent contaminants that are present in the environment globally. SOs are artificial substances originating from styrene-based polymer materials, mainly including PS plastic, resin, and rubber. However, the behavior of SOs in the environment is not well-understood yet due to the scarcity of experimental data. The objective of this study was to use in-silico tool to estimate key physicochemical properties of these SOs. The US EPA EPI suite program was used to predict SOs' physicochemical properties including solubility, vapor pressure, LogKow, Henry's constant, LogKoc, and fugacity-based multimedia mass balance. Although styrene monomer (SM) and SOs have structural similarity, the physicochemical properties of SOs are significantly different from those of SM, a precursor of SOs. In particular, it is estimated that as much as the heavy molecular weight, most SOs persist for comparable periods of time in a sandy environment. Although there is uncertainty, this preliminary in-silico study provides a sufficient reason to assure an experimental study to better determine properties of SOs. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.