Plastic photodegradation under simulated marine conditions

Annalisa Delre; Maaike Goudriaan; Victor Hernando Morales; Annika Vaksmaa; Rachel Tintswalo Ndhlovu; Marianne Baas; Edwin Keijzer; Tim de Groot; Emna Zeghal; Matthias Egger; Thomas Röckmann; Helge Niemann

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114544

Plastic photodegradation under simulated marine conditions

Annalisa Delre
, Maaike Goudriaan
, Victor Hernando Morales
, Annika Vaksmaa
, Rachel Tintswalo Ndhlovu
, Marianne Baas
, Edwin Keijzer
, Tim de Groot
, Emna Zeghal
, Matthias Egger
, Thomas Röckmann
, Helge Niemann^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Ocean plastic pollution is a problem of increasing magnitude; yet, the amount of plastic at the sea surface is much lower than expected. Solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation can induce photodegradation, but its importance in determining the longevity of floating plastic remains unconstrained. Here, we measured photodegradation rates of different plastic types slightly larger than microplastics (virgin polymers and floating plastic debris) under simulated marine conditions. UV irradiation caused all plastic types to leach dissolved organic carbon, and to a lesser degree carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and other hydrocarbon gases. The release of photodegradation products translates to degradation rates of 1.7–2.3 % yr⁻¹ of the tested plastic particles normalized to conditions as found in the subtropical surface ocean. Modelling the accumulation of floating plastic debris, our results show that solar UV radiation could already have degraded 7 to 22 % of all floating plastic that has ever been released to the sea.

Original language	English
Article number	114544
Number of pages	7
Journal	Marine Pollution Bulletin
Volume	187
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114544
Publication status	Published - Feb 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank captain and crew, and shipboard scientific party of the Maersk Transporter. We are grateful to Marcel van der Meer, Sharyn and Jort Ossebaar, Ronald van Bommel and Karel Bakker for technical assistance. This work has been supported by the European Research Council (ERC-CoG grant no. 772923, project VORTEX) and the Dutch Research Council (grant no. OCENW.XS2.018).

Funding Information:
We thank captain and crew, and shipboard scientific party of the Maersk Transporter. We are grateful to Marcel van der Meer, Sharyn and Jort Ossebaar, Ronald van Bommel and Karel Bakker for technical assistance. This work has been supported by the European Research Council (ERC-CoG grant no. 772923 , project VORTEX) and the Dutch Research Council (grant no. OCENW.XS2.018 ).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors

Funding

We thank captain and crew, and shipboard scientific party of the Maersk Transporter. We are grateful to Marcel van der Meer, Sharyn and Jort Ossebaar, Ronald van Bommel and Karel Bakker for technical assistance. This work has been supported by the European Research Council (ERC-CoG grant no. 772923, project VORTEX) and the Dutch Research Council (grant no. OCENW.XS2.018). We thank captain and crew, and shipboard scientific party of the Maersk Transporter. We are grateful to Marcel van der Meer, Sharyn and Jort Ossebaar, Ronald van Bommel and Karel Bakker for technical assistance. This work has been supported by the European Research Council (ERC-CoG grant no. 772923 , project VORTEX) and the Dutch Research Council (grant no. OCENW.XS2.018 ).

Keywords

Microplastic
Ocean plastic paradox
Photodegradation

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114544Licence: CC BY

1-s2.0-S0025326X22012267-mainFinal published version, 704 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Plastic photodegradation under simulated marine conditions",

abstract = "Ocean plastic pollution is a problem of increasing magnitude; yet, the amount of plastic at the sea surface is much lower than expected. Solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation can induce photodegradation, but its importance in determining the longevity of floating plastic remains unconstrained. Here, we measured photodegradation rates of different plastic types slightly larger than microplastics (virgin polymers and floating plastic debris) under simulated marine conditions. UV irradiation caused all plastic types to leach dissolved organic carbon, and to a lesser degree carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and other hydrocarbon gases. The release of photodegradation products translates to degradation rates of 1.7–2.3 \% yr−1 of the tested plastic particles normalized to conditions as found in the subtropical surface ocean. Modelling the accumulation of floating plastic debris, our results show that solar UV radiation could already have degraded 7 to 22 \% of all floating plastic that has ever been released to the sea.",

keywords = "Microplastic, Ocean plastic paradox, Photodegradation",

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note = "Funding Information: We thank captain and crew, and shipboard scientific party of the Maersk Transporter. We are grateful to Marcel van der Meer, Sharyn and Jort Ossebaar, Ronald van Bommel and Karel Bakker for technical assistance. This work has been supported by the European Research Council (ERC-CoG grant no. 772923, project VORTEX) and the Dutch Research Council (grant no. OCENW.XS2.018). Funding Information: We thank captain and crew, and shipboard scientific party of the Maersk Transporter. We are grateful to Marcel van der Meer, Sharyn and Jort Ossebaar, Ronald van Bommel and Karel Bakker for technical assistance. This work has been supported by the European Research Council (ERC-CoG grant no. 772923 , project VORTEX) and the Dutch Research Council (grant no. OCENW.XS2.018 ). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Authors",

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AU - Ndhlovu, Rachel Tintswalo

AU - Baas, Marianne

AU - Keijzer, Edwin

AU - de Groot, Tim

AU - Zeghal, Emna

AU - Egger, Matthias

AU - Röckmann, Thomas

AU - Niemann, Helge

N1 - Funding Information: We thank captain and crew, and shipboard scientific party of the Maersk Transporter. We are grateful to Marcel van der Meer, Sharyn and Jort Ossebaar, Ronald van Bommel and Karel Bakker for technical assistance. This work has been supported by the European Research Council (ERC-CoG grant no. 772923, project VORTEX) and the Dutch Research Council (grant no. OCENW.XS2.018). Funding Information: We thank captain and crew, and shipboard scientific party of the Maersk Transporter. We are grateful to Marcel van der Meer, Sharyn and Jort Ossebaar, Ronald van Bommel and Karel Bakker for technical assistance. This work has been supported by the European Research Council (ERC-CoG grant no. 772923 , project VORTEX) and the Dutch Research Council (grant no. OCENW.XS2.018 ). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors

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N2 - Ocean plastic pollution is a problem of increasing magnitude; yet, the amount of plastic at the sea surface is much lower than expected. Solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation can induce photodegradation, but its importance in determining the longevity of floating plastic remains unconstrained. Here, we measured photodegradation rates of different plastic types slightly larger than microplastics (virgin polymers and floating plastic debris) under simulated marine conditions. UV irradiation caused all plastic types to leach dissolved organic carbon, and to a lesser degree carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and other hydrocarbon gases. The release of photodegradation products translates to degradation rates of 1.7–2.3 % yr−1 of the tested plastic particles normalized to conditions as found in the subtropical surface ocean. Modelling the accumulation of floating plastic debris, our results show that solar UV radiation could already have degraded 7 to 22 % of all floating plastic that has ever been released to the sea.

AB - Ocean plastic pollution is a problem of increasing magnitude; yet, the amount of plastic at the sea surface is much lower than expected. Solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation can induce photodegradation, but its importance in determining the longevity of floating plastic remains unconstrained. Here, we measured photodegradation rates of different plastic types slightly larger than microplastics (virgin polymers and floating plastic debris) under simulated marine conditions. UV irradiation caused all plastic types to leach dissolved organic carbon, and to a lesser degree carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and other hydrocarbon gases. The release of photodegradation products translates to degradation rates of 1.7–2.3 % yr−1 of the tested plastic particles normalized to conditions as found in the subtropical surface ocean. Modelling the accumulation of floating plastic debris, our results show that solar UV radiation could already have degraded 7 to 22 % of all floating plastic that has ever been released to the sea.

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VL - 187

JO - Marine Pollution Bulletin

JF - Marine Pollution Bulletin

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ER -

Plastic photodegradation under simulated marine conditions

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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