The environmental hazards caused by microplastics (MPs) have received widespread attention, but the effects of non-biodegradable and biodegradable MPs of long-term presence on continuously operating sewage treatment bioreactors are not well known. In this study, we investigated the effect of a representative non-biodegradable MP, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and a biodegradable MP, polylactic acid (PLA), on the nitrogen removal performance of conventional anoxic/aerobic (A/O) process. The NH-N removal efficiencies were suppressed to 91.7 ± 5.5% and 80.8 ± 4.1% at concentrations of 10 and 100 mg/L PLA, significantly (p < 0.05) lower than 96.3 ± 1.0% and 95.0 ± 1.5% with the presence of PET. PLA resulted in a significant (p < 0.05) decrease in adenosine triphosphate of living cells (cATP) and dehydrogenase activities. PLA enhanced redox stress and induced a series of oxidative stress reactions that were detrimental to the normal growth and metabolism of microorganisms. The relative abundance of several functional microorganisms (Nitrosomonas,Nitrospira and Ellin6067) and genes (amoA, amoB and amoC) associated with NH-N conversion were reduced. The potential risk of biodegradable MPs to the long-term wastewater treatment process cannot be ignored and needs to be emphasized.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123712 | DOI Listing |
J Hazard Mater
December 2024
Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resources Development on Shallow Lakes, Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, PR China.
Plastic pollution in aquatic environments poses significant ecological risks, particularly through released leachates. While traditional or non-biodegradable plastics (non-BPs) are well-studied, biodegradable plastics (BPs) have emerged as alternatives that are designed to degrade more rapidly within the environment. However, research on the ecological risks of the leachates from aged BPs in aquatic environments is scarce.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Total Environ
December 2024
Department of Fibre and Polymer Technology, School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden.
Water-soluble polymers are materials rapidly growing in volume and in number of materials and applications. Examples include synthetic plastics such as polyacrylamide, polyacrylic acid, polyethylene glycol, polyethylene oxide and polyvinyl alcohol, with applications ranging from cosmetics and paints to water purification, pharmaceutics and food packaging. Despite their abundance, their environmental concerns (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPolymers (Basel)
December 2024
Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, University of Zagreb, Marulićev trg 19, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
The environmental impact of plastic waste is a growing global challenge, primarily due to non-biodegradable plastics from fossil resources that accumulate in ecosystems. Biodegradable polymers like polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) offer a sustainable alternative. PHAs are microbial biopolymers produced by microorganisms using renewable substrates, including agro-industrial byproducts, making them eco-friendly and cost-effective.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Environ Manage
December 2024
College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China. Electronic address:
J Environ Manage
December 2024
Department of Agricultural Economics, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary. Electronic address:
Consumers have several options when confronted with less environmentally friendly packaging like water in single use plastic bottles - they can ignore environmental concerns and proceed with a purchase, refuse to buy any such product, seek out a less damaging version like water in biodegradable bottles, and/or engage in offsetting/compensatory behavior such as donating to a charity. Understanding how consumers value these options is an important academic and management challenge. To address this, a stated choice experiment is employed.
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