Microplastics Bound Transport and Differential Bioavailability of I Pharmaceuticals, Personal Care Products (PPCPs) and Toxic Trace Elements in Water
Summary
Microplastics are considered as an emerging contaminant in aquatic and terrestrial environments in the world. Recently, Sri Lanka was classified as the fifth out of twenty that dump plastic and polythene waste into the marine environment which have been originated from land-based sources. Differential bioavailability is a relative scaling of the tendency for contaminants associated with different microplastics to be strongly sequestered, or quickly released and accumulated by organisms. It is a reflection of the varying modes and strengths of sorption of contaminants for different types of microplastics. Although few studies report microplastics’ potential as a vector to transport of’ hydrophobic compounds (Polychlorinated biphenyls) and toxic metals; data on the transport of polar ionizable compounds such as antibiotics and personal care products and their differential bioavailability are lacking. Therefore, the objectives of the proposed research are to assess the transport potential and differential bioavailability of microplastics for Pharmaceuticals, Personal Care Products (PPCPs) as a vector. This study will create new knowledge on deferential bioavailability, which is essential for evaluating environmental fate processes and risks posed to human and ecological health.
Objectives
Overall objective
To understand the transport potential of PPCPs and toxic metals to microplastics and their differential bioavailability
Specific objectives
1. Binding and releasing ability of PPCPs ( caffeine/triclosan and ciprofloxacin/tetracycline antibiotic) and toxic metals (Pb and Cd) to different microplastics (polyethylene and polypropylene) at varying environmental conditions such as pH, organic carbon and ionic strength of the media 2. Quantify differential bioavailability of above contamininants in micrnplastics based on equilibriumsolid-water distribution coefficients aud in vitro gut fluid solubilization.
3. Assess the risk related to microplastics as a vector based on bioavailability