Polyethylene degradation and heavy metals leaching under realistic tropical marine climate

Tan E 1 , Ong MC 2 , Mohd Zanuri NB 3

Affiliations 

  • 1 Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMACS), Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Gelugor, Penang, Malaysia
  • 2 Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, 21300, Terengganu, Malaysia; Ocean Pollution and Ecotoxicology (OPEC) Research Group, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, 21300, Terengganu, Malaysia
  • 3 Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMACS), Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Gelugor, Penang, Malaysia. Electronic address: lailazanuri@usm.my
Mar Environ Res, 2023 Oct;191:106113.
PMID: 37619477 DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2023.106113

Abstract

The study examines the influence of temperature and pH on the leaching of six heavy metals (HMs) species: aluminum (Al), zinc (Zn), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb) and arsenic (As) from transparent polyethylene pellets into seawater. The idea is to understand the potential influence of intensifying global warming and ocean acidification towards microplastic toxicity in the ocean. HMs leaching was obvious by 24th hours, with most HMs concentration decreased in water by 120th and 240th hours except Al. Nevertheless, we report that temperature and pH do not influence the overall HMs leaching from PE pellets with statistical analysis showing no significance (p 

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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