Since the transfer of microplastic across the sea-air interface was first reported in 2020, numerous studies have been conducted on its emission flux estimation. However, these studies have shown significant discrepancies in the estimated contribution of oceanic sources to global atmospheric microplastics, with evaluations ranging from predominant to negligible, varying by 4 orders of magnitude from 7.7 × 10 to 8.6 megatons per year, thereby creating considerable confusion in the research on the microplastic cycle. Here, we provide a perspective by applying the well-established theory of particulate transfer through the sea-air interface. The upper limit of global sea-air emission flux microplastics was calculated, aiming to constrain the controversy in the previously reported fluxes. Specifically, the flux of sub-100 μm microplastic cannot exceed 0.01 megatons per year, and for sub-0.1 μm nanoplastics, it would not exceed 3 × 10 megatons per year. Bridging this knowledge gap is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of the sea-air limb in the "plastic cycle", and facilitates the management of future microplastic pollution.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c03182 | DOI Listing |
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl
January 2025
Department of Chemistry, Queen's University Chernoff Hall, 90 Bader Ln, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada.
Plastics are ubiquitous in our ecosystems, and microplastic accumulation in the environment is an emerging global health concern. Since available recycling technologies are not economically competitive with primary plastic production, global use is expected to reach 1231 megatons by 2060, with 493 megatons leeching into the environment each year. To identify new nylon-recycling biotechnologies, targeted genome mining was used to identify thermostable enzymes capable of degrading polyamides.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Sci Technol
July 2024
Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
Since the transfer of microplastic across the sea-air interface was first reported in 2020, numerous studies have been conducted on its emission flux estimation. However, these studies have shown significant discrepancies in the estimated contribution of oceanic sources to global atmospheric microplastics, with evaluations ranging from predominant to negligible, varying by 4 orders of magnitude from 7.7 × 10 to 8.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFScience
January 2024
Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
Volatile methylsiloxanes (VMS) are man-made, nonbiodegradable chemicals produced at a megaton-per-year scale, which leads to concern over their potential for environmental persistence, long-range transport, and bioaccumulation. We used directed evolution to engineer a variant of bacterial cytochrome P450 to break silicon-carbon bonds in linear and cyclic VMS. To accomplish silicon-carbon bond cleavage, the enzyme catalyzes two tandem oxidations of a siloxane methyl group, which is followed by putative [1,2]-Brook rearrangement and hydrolysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiosensors (Basel)
July 2023
Agro-Environmental Research Centre, Institute of Environmental Sciences, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Herman Ottó út 15, H-1022 Budapest, Hungary.
The herbicide active ingredient glyphosate is the most widely applied herbicidal substance worldwide. Currently it is the market-leading pesticide, and its use is projected to further grow 4.5-fold between 2022 and 2029.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Commun
April 2023
School of Biological, Earth, and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2033, Australia.
While marine kelp forests have provided valuable ecosystem services for millennia, the global ecological and economic value of those services is largely unresolved. Kelp forests are diminishing in many regions worldwide, and efforts to manage these ecosystems are hindered without accurate estimates of the value of the services that kelp forests provide to human societies. Here, we present a global estimate of the ecological and economic potential of three key ecosystem services - fisheries production, nutrient cycling, and carbon removal provided by six major forest forming kelp genera (Ecklonia, Laminaria, Lessonia, Macrocystis, Nereocystis, and Saccharina).
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