Occurrence and characteristics of atmospheric microplastics in Mexico City.

Autor: Shruti VC; Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Ciudad Universitaria, Del. Coyoacán, C.P. 04510 Ciudad de México, Mexico. Electronic address: shrutiv@geologia.unam.mx., Kutralam-Muniasamy G; Department of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Ciudad de México, Mexico. Electronic address: mgurusamy@cinvestav.mx., Pérez-Guevara F; Department of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Ciudad de México, Mexico; Nanoscience & Nanotechnology Program, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Ciudad de México, Mexico., Roy PD; Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Ciudad Universitaria, Del. Coyoacán, C.P. 04510 Ciudad de México, Mexico., Martínez IE; Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), Centro Mexicano para la Producción más Limpia (CMP+L), Av. Acueducto s/n, Col. Barrio la Laguna Ticomán, Del Gustavo A. Madero, C.P. 07340 México City, Mexico.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2022 Nov 15; Vol. 847, pp. 157601. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Jul 23.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157601
Abstrakt: While atmospheric microplastics have attracted scientific attention as a significant source of microplastic contamination in the environment, studies in large population centers remain sparse. Here we present the first report on the occurrence and distribution of atmospheric microplastics in Mexico City (Latin America's second most densely populated city), collected using PM 10 and PM 2.5 active samplers at seven monitoring stations (urban, residential, and industrial) during the dry and wet seasons of 2020. The results showed that microplastics were detected in all of the samples examined, with mean microplastic concentrations (items m -3 ) of 0.205 ± 0.061 and 0.110 ± 0.055 in PM 10 and PM 2.5 , respectively. The spatial distribution of microplastics showed seasonal variation, with greater abundances in locations closer to industrial and urban centers. There was also a significant difference in microplastic concentrations in PM 10 and PM 2.5 between the dry and wet seasons. The mean PM 2.5 /PM 10 ratio was 0.576, implying that microplastics were partitioned more towards PM 2.5 than PM 10 in Mexico City. Fibers were the most prominent shape (>75 %), and blue was the most common color (>60 %). The size characteristics indicated microplastics of varying lengths, ranging from 39 to 5000 μm, with 66 % being <500 μm. Metal contaminants such as aluminum, iron, and titanium were detected using SEM-EDX on randomly selected microplastics. The microplastics were identified as cellophane, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polyamide, and cellulose (rayon) using ATR-FTIR spectral analysis. Our findings unravel the extent and characteristics of atmospheric microplastics in the Mexico City metropolitan area, which will aid future research to better understand their fate, transport, and potential health risks, demanding more investigations and close monitoring.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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