Predicting Drifting Polystyrene Degradation in World Oceans Based on Thermal Decomposition
Yükleniyor...
Tarih
2022
Dergi Başlığı
Dergi ISSN
Cilt Başlığı
Yayıncı
Amer Chemical Soc
Erişim Hakkı
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Özet
The accumulation of plastic litter in natural environments has become a serious global issue. Since 1972, mega to micro/nanosized drifting plastics have been determined to be highly a significant pollutant in all oceans worldwide. To clarifying numerous problems such as entanglement or improper ingestion due to drifting and debris plastic, the amounts of currently drifting plastics should be determined. For this purpose, chemicals derived from polystyrene (PS) degradation were analyzed for 4000 sand and water samples taken from around the world including open sea sites (surface to 5000 m depth) during the period from 2000 to 2018. All styrene oligomers (SOs) of styrene (styrene monomer, SM), 2,4-diphenyl-1-butene (styrene dimer, SD2), and 2,4,6-triphenyl-1-hexene (styrene trimer, ST) were found to contain products from PS degradation. On the basis of survey SO values, 1.4 x 10(9) metric tons (MT) of SO were found to have been released into world oceans between 1950 and 2018. This SO subsequently underwent conversion to 2.7 x 10(6) MT of PS. Twenty percent underwent degradation, while 1.2 x 10(7) MT of PS apparently continued to drift about in ocean water. Drifting PS has been clearly shown not only to be crushed into micro/ nanoplastic particles but also to degrade into basic structural units of SOs constituting PS.
Açıklama
Anahtar Kelimeler
drifting plastic, polystyrene, degradation, styrene oligomer, toxicity
Kaynak
Acs Es&T Water
WoS Q Değeri
N/A
Scopus Q Değeri
Q2
Cilt
2
Sayı
11
