Environmental emission, fate and transformation of microplastics in biotic and abiotic compartments: Global status, recent advances and future perspectives · SciRah
article Open access
Environmental emission, fate and transformation of microplastics in biotic and abiotic compartments: Global status, recent advances and future perspectives
Papers open inside SciRah from the original publisher or repository; SciRah never hosts them.
Abstract
The intensive use and wide-ranging application of plastic- and plastic-derived products have resulted in alarming levels of plastic pollution in different environmental compartments worldwide. As a result of various biogeochemical mechanisms, this plastic litter is converted into small, ubiquitous and persistent fragments called microplastics (<5 mm), which are of significant and increasing concern to the scientific community. Microplastics have spread across the globe and now exist in virtually all environmental compartments (the soil, atmosphere, and water). Although these compartments are often considered to be independent environments, in reality, they are very closely linked. Ample research has been done on microplastics, but there are still questions and knowledge gaps regarding the emission, occurrence, distribution, detection, environmental fate and transport of MPs in different environmental compartments. The current article is intended to provide a systematic overview of MP emissions, pollution conditions, sampling and analytical approaches, transport, fates and transformation mechanisms in different environmental compartments. It also identifies research gaps and future research directions and perspectives.
Plain-language summary
Discussion
bGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
cState Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China. Electronic address: ali@sustech.edu.cn
dState Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
eState Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China. Electronic address: linsy@mail.sustech.edu.cn
fDepartment of Environment Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Ankara 06800, Turkey
gCAS-Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and the Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, PR China. Electronic address: balal@metu.edu.tr
hCAS-Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and the Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, PR China
iDepartment of Environment Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Ankara 06800, Turkey. Electronic address: qumber@metu.edu.tr
jCAS-Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and the Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, PR China. Electronic address: muju212@mail.ustc.edu.cn
kBusiness School of Xiangtan University, Xiangtan University, Hunan, China
lDepartment of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of Gujrat, Gujrat 50700, Pakistan. Electronic address: audil@uaar.edu.pk
mDepartment of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of Gujrat, Gujrat 50700, Pakistan
nState Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China. Electronic address: zhengcm@sustech.edu.cn
oState Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China. Electronic address: kuangxx@sustech.edu.cn
pConsortium on Health, Environment, Education and Research (CHEER), Department of Science and Environmental Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
qState Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China. Electronic address: minghwong@eduhk.hk
