Abstract：
Bioplastics are materials that are biobased and/or biodegradable, but not necessarily both. Concerns about environmental plastic pollution are constantly growing with increasing demand for substituting fossil-based plastics with those made using renewable resource feedstocks. For many conventional bioplastics to completely decompose/degrade, they require specific environmental conditions that are rarely met in natural ecosystems, leading to rapid formation of micro-bioplastics. As global bioplastic production and consumption/use continue to increase, there is growing concern regarding the potential for environmental pollution from micro-bioplastics. However, the actual extent of their environmental occurrence and potential impacts remains unclear, and there is insufficient mass concentration-based quantitative data due to the lack of quantitative analytical methods. This study developed and validated an analytical method coupling pressurized liquid extraction and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry combined with thermochemolysis to simultaneously identify and quantify five targeted micro-bioplastics (i.e., polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxyalkanoate, polybutylene succinate, polycaprolactone, and polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT)) in environmental samples on a polymer-specific mass-based concentration. The recovery of spiked micro-bioplastics in environmental samples (biosolids) ranged from 74 to 116%. The limits of quantification for the target micro-bioplastics were between 0.02 and 0.05 mg/g. PLA and PBAT were commonly detected in wastewater, biosolids, and sediment samples at concentrations between 0.07 and 0.18 mg/g. The presented analytical method enables the accurate identification, quantification, and monitoring of micro-bioplastics in environmental samples. This study quantified five micro-bioplastic types in complex environmental samples for the first time, filling in gaps in our knowledge about bioplastic pollution and providing a useful methodology and important reference data for future research.
摘要：
生物塑料是生物基和/或可生物降解的材料，但不一定两者都有。随着使用可再生资源原料代替化石基塑料的需求不断增加，对环境塑料污染的担忧也在不断增长。为了使许多常规生物塑料完全分解/降解，它们需要自然生态系统很少满足的特定环境条件，导致微生物塑料的快速形成。随着全球生物塑料生产和消费/使用的不断增加，人们越来越担心微生物塑料对环境的潜在污染。然而,其环境发生的实际程度和潜在影响尚不清楚，并且由于缺乏定量分析方法，基于质量浓度的定量数据不足。这项研究开发并验证了一种将加压液体萃取和热解-气相色谱-质谱联用与热化学分解相结合的分析方法，以同时识别和量化五种目标微生物塑料（即，聚乳酸(PLA),聚羟基链烷酸酯，聚丁二酸丁二醇酯，聚己内酯,和聚己二酸对苯二甲酸丁二醇酯（PBAT））在环境样品中基于聚合物特定质量的浓度。环境样品（生物固体）中添加的微生物塑料的回收率为74％至116％。目标微生物塑料的定量极限在0.02至0.05mg/g之间。在废水中普遍检测到PLA和PBAT，生物固体，和浓度在0.07和0.18毫克/克之间的沉积物样品。提出的分析方法可以准确识别，量化，和监测环境样品中的微生物塑料。这项研究首次量化了复杂环境样品中的五种微生物塑料类型，填补了我们对生物塑料污染知识的空白，并为未来的研究提供了有用的方法和重要的参考数据。
