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Ozad067 636

1) Microplastics in landfills and wastewater break down into nanoparticles, but wastewater treatment plants are not designed to remove plastic particles. 2) Most microplastics end up in sewage sludge and can re-enter the environment when sludge is used or disposed of. 3) The presence of microplastics decreases a plant-promoting bacteria's production of a phytohormone by 50-66%, indicating microplastics can impact biogeochemical processes.

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20 views3 pages

Ozad067 636

1) Microplastics in landfills and wastewater break down into nanoparticles, but wastewater treatment plants are not designed to remove plastic particles. 2) Most microplastics end up in sewage sludge and can re-enter the environment when sludge is used or disposed of. 3) The presence of microplastics decreases a plant-promoting bacteria's production of a phytohormone by 50-66%, indicating microplastics can impact biogeochemical processes.

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ISHWAR KC
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© © All Rights Reserved
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com/mam/article/29/Supplement_1/1239/7228612 by guest on 24 August 2023


From Micro-Plastic to Nano-Plastic in Wastewater: A
Study of Their Potentials to Impact Biogeochemical
Processes Using Electron Microscope
Linduo Zhao, John W Scott, Andres F Prada
Microscopy and Microanalysis, 29 (Suppl 1), 2023, 1239–1240
https://doi.org/10.1093/micmic/ozad067.636

Proceedings

From Micro-Plastic to Nano-Plastic in Wastewater: A Study


of Their Potentials to Impact Biogeochemical Processes
Using Electron Microscope
Linduo Zhao1,*, John W Scott1, and Andres F Prada1
1
The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mam/article/29/Supplement_1/1239/7228612 by guest on 24 August 2023


The growing global concern for plastic pollution requires research into its fate, transport, and biogeochemical effects. A signifi-
cant fraction of plastic products ever made in the last 70 years is located in landfills, where they break down into micro-plastics
(MPs, < 5 mm in size) and nano-plastics (NPs, < 1 µm), then enter landfill leachate or natural environments in proximity [1, 2].
Commonly, landfill leachate is treated through conventional wastewater treatment plants, which are not designed to degrade
plastic waste. Our study reveals that although only a small portion of MPs are directly discharged to the environment through
the wastewater treatment plant’s effluent, 99% of plastic particles remain in the sewage sludge, also known as biosolids.
Biosolids are often used as fertilizer or discharged back to the landfill, which can result in MPs and NPs being released into soils
or groundwater, or cycled between the landfill and wastewater treatment plants until they enter the nature (Figure 1). In the en-
vironment, the presence of MPs can influence a range of biogeochemical reactions [3]. In this study, we used microbial production
of phytohormone, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), as an example to study how the process is affected by the presence of MPs.
Azospirillum brasilense spp. are plant growth-promoting bacteria that enhance the performance of plants and algae by converting
an amino acid tryptophan to IAA [4]. We observed that the presence of MPs decreased IAA production of Azospirillum by 50–
66% in 10 days, and the inhibition effects depended on the physicochemical properties of the MPs. Both electron microscopy-
based imaging and chemical analysis demonstrate close associations between the bacterial cells and MPs, as well as changes in
EPS production induced by the MPs.
During the wastewater treatment process, microplastics (MPs) undergo extensive weathering, resulting in the production of
nanoparticles (NPs). Our previous study has shown that infrared microscopy is a reliable tool for mapping the surface degrad-
ation of MPs [5]. The distribution of the carbonyl index obtained by infrared mapping corresponds to the degree of weathering
on surface morphologies observed through scanning electron microscopy (Figure 2). The MPs collected from the wastewater
treatment plant effluent exhibit considerable cracking, fracturing, surface roughness, and discoloration due to degradation.
Future designs of wastewater treatment plants should consider the degradation of MPs as part of their overall mission, so as
to reduce the total time that MPs remain in the environment.
In addition, we pre-concentrate the NPs in effluent from wastewater treatment plants and characterize them using pyrolysis-gas
chromatography mass spectrometry (py-GCMS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The effluent sample contains
large amounts of deformed NPs with eroded and cracking surfaces. The pretreatment of cloud-point extraction and in situ label-
ing of gold nanoparticles [6, 7] effectively remove salt impurities and enhance the TEM imaging quality compared to untreated
TEM samples. Our research indicates that the treated effluent discharged by the wastewater treatment plant contains massive
NPs, which directly enter the environment. It is unclear, however, how these NPs impact the biogeochemical processes or their
fate and transport. Further research is necessary to identify ways to mitigate their introduction into ecosystems and minimize their
negative effects on both the environment and human health.
1240 Microscopy and Microanalysis, 29 (Suppl 1), 2023

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Fig. 1. Fate and transport of microplastics (MP) that are related to wastewater treatment plants (WWTP).

Fig. 2. Infrared maps of carbonyl indices and scanning electron microscopic images of weathered microplastics (MPs). The distribution of carbonyl index
corresponds to the degree of weathering of MP surface.

References
1. R Geyer, JR Jambeck and KL Law, Science advances 3(7) (2017), p. e1700782.
2. P He et al., Water research 159 (2019), p. 38.
3. M Filella, A Turner and J Scott, Frontiers in environmental science 10 (2022), p. 1040756.
4. E Amavizca et al., Scientific reports 7(1) (2017), p. 1.
5. JW Scott et al., Science of The Total Environment 812 (2022), p. 152308.
6. Y Lai et al., Environmental Science & Technology 55(8) (2021), p. 4783.
7. X-X Zhou et al. Analytical chemistry 91(3) (2018), p. 1785.

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