Abstract
In this study, the leaching of six phthalic acid esters (PAEs) from three common consumer plastics was investigated: low and high density polyethylene (LDPE, HDPE) and recycled polyethylene (RP). The effects of salinity, temperature, and ultraviolet irradiation (UVR) on leaching were investigated. The study of leaching of phthalates in aqueous environments in batch experiments is challenging due to their readsorption by the high hydrophobicity of PAEs, and there are no standard methods to study release processes. Here with the experiments, leaching (A) and spiking (B) using six PAEs to study the readsorption in the leaching process. PAEs were identified and quantified using GC–MS. Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and benzyl butyl phthalate (DEHP) showed considerable leaching during the 5-day incubation: 14 ± 1 to 128 ± 14 and 25 ± 2 to 79 ± 5 ng/cm2, respectively, under UVR, corresponding approximately to (1.9–13%) and (12.4–22.4%) of the solvent extracted mass. The highest Kd values were measured for RP polymers (0.3–9.4), followed by LDPE (0.5–5.4) and HDPE (0.2–2.2) polymers. Thus, readsorption of PAEs at the surface removed 30–80% of the leached PAEs in the dissolved phase. For example in LDPE, the calculated total release of DBP was up to 54 ± 4 ng/cm2, while the dissolved amount was 8.5 ± 1 ng/cm2 during the 5-day incubation under freshwater conditions. Increasing salinity negatively affected the leaching rate, which decreased for DBP from 54 ± 4 ng/cm2 in freshwater to 44 ± 3 and 38 ± 3 ng/cm2 at salinity of 20 and 40 g/L, respectively, from LDPE during the 5-day incubation. Temperature and UVR had a positive effect on the leaching rate, with the release of DBP from LDPE increasing from 44 ± 3 ng/cm2 at room temperature (25 °C) to 60 ± 6 and 128 ± 14 ng/cm2 at high temperature (40 °C) and UVR, respectively. Overall, this study highlights the positive relationship between temperatures, UVR on the extent of leaching and surface adsorption on the leaching measurements.
Schematic of the leaching process in experiment (A: polymer) and in Experiment B (Polymer + spikes), shows that part of leachate were re-adsorbed on the surface of the polymer were may affect the dissolution concentration. The total leached mass (adsorbed and dissolved) were estimation by compared to a treatment containing both polymer and PAEs spike (P + S; Experiment B). The influence of salinities (0.1, 20 and 40 g/L), temperature (10, 25, and 40 °C), and ultraviolet radiation (UVR 350 nm) on the leaching and re-adsorption of PEs was investigated. [Display omitted]
•A high concentration BEP and DBP were detected from LDPE, HDPE and RP polymer films.•The impact salinity, temperature and UVR on leaching and re-adsorption of PaEs were investigated.•A mass balance approach was used to determine the adsorption loss of each target compounds during the leaching process.•Surface adsorption of PEs removed 40 to 80% of the leached PEs.