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Gomez-Flores A, Jin S, Nam H, Cai L, Song S, Kim H. Attachment of various-shaped polystyrene microplastics to silica surfaces: Experimental validation of the equivalent Cassini oval extended DLVO model. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2024; 470:134146. [PMID: 38583206 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.134146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2023] [Revised: 03/22/2024] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/09/2024]
Abstract
Microplastics (MPs) vary in shape and surface characteristics in the environment. The attachment of MPs to surfaces can be studied using the Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) theory. However, this theory does not account for the shape MPs. Therefore, we investigated the attachment of spherical, pear-shaped, and peanut-shaped polystyrene MPs to quartz sand in NaCl and CaCl2 solutions using batch tests. The attachment of MPs to quartz sand was quantified using the attachment efficiency (alpha). Subsequently, alpha behaviors were interpreted using energy barriers (EBs) and interaction minima obtained from extended DLVO calculations, which were performed using an equivalent sphere model (ESM) and a newly developed equivalent Cassini model (ECM) to account for the shape of the MPs. The ESM failed to interpret the alpha behavior of the three MP shapes because it predicted high EBs and shallow minima. The alpha values for spherical MPs (0.62-1.00 in NaCl and 0.48-0.96 in CaCl2) were higher than those for pear- and peanut-shaped MPs (0.01-0.63 in NaCl and 0.02-0.46 in CaCl2, and 0.01-0.59 in NaCl and 0.02-0.40 in CaCl2, respectively). Conversely, the ECM could interpret the alpha behavior of pear- and peanut-shaped MPs either by changes in EBs or interaction minima as a function of orientation angles and electrolyte ionic strength. Therefore, the particle shape must be considered to improve the attachment analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allan Gomez-Flores
- Department of Earth Resources and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea
| | - Suheyon Jin
- Department of Earth Resources and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea
| | - Hyojeong Nam
- Department of Earth Resources and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea
| | - Li Cai
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
| | - Shaoxian Song
- School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wenzhi Street 34, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China
| | - Hyunjung Kim
- Department of Earth Resources and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea.
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Magherini L, Avataneo C, Capella S, Lasagna M, Bianco C, Belluso E, De Luca DA, Sethi R. Mobility of crocidolite asbestos in sandy porous media mimicking aquifer systems. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2023; 458:131998. [PMID: 37421855 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131998] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Revised: 06/19/2023] [Accepted: 07/03/2023] [Indexed: 07/10/2023]
Abstract
Asbestos is widely recognized as being a carcinogen when dispersed in air, but very little is known about its exposure pathways in water and its subsequent effects on human health. Several studies have proved asbestos presence in groundwater but failed to assess its mobility in aquifer systems. This paper aims to fill this gap by studying the transport of crocidolite, an amphibole asbestos, through sandy porous media mimicking different aquifer systems. To this purpose, two sets of column test were performed varying the crocidolite suspension concentration, the quartz sand grain size distribution, and the physicochemical water parameters (i.e., pH). The results proved that crocidolite is mobile in quartz sand due to the repulsive interactions between fibres and porous media. The concentration of fibres at the outlet of the column were found to decrease when decreasing the grain size distribution of the porous medium, with a bigger impact on highly concentrated suspensions. In particular, 5-to-10-µm-long fibres were able to flow through all the tested sands while fibres longer than 10 µm were mobile only through the coarser medium. These results confirm that groundwater migration should be considered a potential exposure pathway while implementing human health risk assessment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonardo Magherini
- Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering (DIATI), Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Turin, Italy
| | - Chiara Avataneo
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Turin, Via Valperga Caluso 35, 10125 Turin, Italy; "G. Scansetti" Interdepartmental Center for Studies on Asbestos and Other Toxic Particulates, University of Turin, Via Pietro Giuria 7, 10125 Turin, Italy
| | - Silvana Capella
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Turin, Via Valperga Caluso 35, 10125 Turin, Italy; "G. Scansetti" Interdepartmental Center for Studies on Asbestos and Other Toxic Particulates, University of Turin, Via Pietro Giuria 7, 10125 Turin, Italy
| | - Manuela Lasagna
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Turin, Via Valperga Caluso 35, 10125 Turin, Italy
| | - Carlo Bianco
- Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering (DIATI), Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Turin, Italy
| | - Elena Belluso
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Turin, Via Valperga Caluso 35, 10125 Turin, Italy; "G. Scansetti" Interdepartmental Center for Studies on Asbestos and Other Toxic Particulates, University of Turin, Via Pietro Giuria 7, 10125 Turin, Italy; Geosciences and Earth Resources (IGG) of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Operational Unit of Turin, Via Valperga Caluso 35, 10125 Turin, Italy
| | | | - Rajandrea Sethi
- Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering (DIATI), Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Turin, Italy; Clean Water Center (CWC), Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Turin, Italy.
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