Lifetime prediction of non-woven face masks in ocean and contributions to microplastics and dissolved organic carbon
Journal of Hazardous Materials
; 441, 2023.
Article
in English
| Scopus | ID: covidwho-2239696
ABSTRACT
This study explored the degradation behavior of three types of disposable face masks in simulated seawater via the accelerated aging experiments. Microplastics (MPs) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) were monitored in UV- and thermal-treated mask suspensions and their concentrations increased slowly in the early stage at 50 ℃ and 58 ℃. Owing to the high energy supply, the release rates of MPs and DOC at 76 ℃ were much faster than the above two temperatures. The time-temperature superposition principle (TTSP) was used to superpose the MPs/DOC release kinetics from other tested temperatures to the reference temperature and its applicability was verified by the similar activation energy. Then, a release kinetics model was established and fitted well with the superposed MP data (R2 ≥ 0.96). Since less than 0.1 % of carbon was leached, the superposed DOC data was roughly modelled by the exponential function (R2 ≥ 0.90). According to the TTSP and the established kinetics models, about 15 years were estimated to decompose half of a certain marine mask waste, together with leaching 0.21 ± 0.02 mg∙g-mask−1 of DOC. If mask consumption remains the same before 2025, they would contribute 40000–230000 tonnes of MPs and 13–97 tonnes of DOC to the ocean by 2040. © 2022
Activation energy; Kinetics; Leaching; Marine pollution; Microplastic; Organic carbon; glass fiber; Degradation behavior; Disposables; Dissolved organic carbon; Face masks; Lifetime prediction; Microplastics; Non-woven; Release modeling; Simulated seawaters; Time-temperature superposition principles; COVID-19; degradation; ocean; plastic waste; prediction; reaction kinetics; Article; controlled study; correlation coefficient; electron spin resonance; energy dispersive X ray spectroscopy; energy resource; limit of quantitation; marine environment; molecular weight; rate constant; scanning electron microscopy; sea pollution; surface property; thermal exposure; Face mask; Release modelling
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Databases of international organizations
Database:
Scopus
Type of study:
Prognostic study
Language:
English
Journal:
Journal of Hazardous Materials
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
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