Journal
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
Volume 616, Issue -, Pages 1505-1512Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.10.163
Keywords
Microplastics; Chemical additives; Coastal beaches; Source identification; Spatial variation
Categories
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41371313, 41771351]
- Sino-Germany Collaboration Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences [133337KYSB20130013]
- Key Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences [QYZDJ-SSW-DQC05]
- Zhejiang AF University [2017FR021]
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Chemical pollution in the microplastics has been concerned worldwide as pollutants might potentially transfer from the environment to living organisms via plastics. Here, we investigate organophosphorus esters (OPEs) and phthalic acid esters (PAEs) in the beached microplastics collected from 28 coastal beaches of the Bohai and Yellow Sea in north China. The analyzed microplastics included polyethylene (PE) pellets and fragments, polypropylene (PP) flakes and fragments and polystyrene (PS) foams. The tris-(2-chloroethyl)-phosphate (TCEP), tris (1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCPP) and di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) were the three predominant compounds found overall. Themaximum Sigma 4 OPEs concentration was 84,595.9 ng g(-1), almost three orders of magnitude higher than the maximum Sigma 9 PAEs concentration. The PP flakes and PS foams contained the highest concentrations of the additives in contrast to the PE pellets which contained the lowest. The high concentration level of carcinogenic chlorinated OPEs and DEHP with endocrine disrupting effects implied the suggested potential hazards to coastal organisms. Spatial differences and compositional variation of the additives among the different microplastics suggests different origins and residence times in the coastal environment. This indicates that the characteristics of chemical additives might be a useful approach when tracing sources of microplastics in the environment. (c) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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