Characterization of petroleum-based plastics and their absorbed trace metals from the sediments of the Marina Beach in C
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RESEARCH
Characterization of petroleum‑based plastics and their absorbed trace metals from the sediments of the Marina Beach in Chennai, India Thodhal Yoganandham Suman1,2,3†, Wei‑Guo Li1†, Shaji Alif4, Valappil Rahman Panangala Faris4, Duvvuru Joshua Amarnath4, Jun‑Guo Ma1 and De‑Sheng Pei1,2*
Abstract Background: Pollution by marine plastic debris becomes an increasing global concern. Characteristics of petroleumbased plastics pollution and its absorbed metals in Marina Beach, Chennai, in India are not reported yet. In this study, we first characterized the petroleum-based plastic debris and quantified the concentration of arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), and lead (Pb) in plastics from the Marina Beach. Results: A total of 2275 samples of the sediments were collected from three different locations across the Marina Beach. Our results showed that plastics debris mainly were three shapes as fiber, sphere, and fragment. The plastic fragments were mechanically eroded and chemically weathered observed by the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Five types of polymers were identified, including low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP), polyamide (PA), and polycarbonate (PC). Their absorbed trace metals, such as Cr, As, Pb, and Cu, were determined by the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The level of As was high in most plastics. However, the highest levels of Pb, Cu, and Cr were in the PA, PP, and PA, respectively, implying the adsorption preference of plastics from different sources. Conclusion: Taken together, this study first characterized petroleum-based plastics and their absorbed trace metals in the sediments of the Marina Beach, indicating that petroleum-based plastics acted as the vectors for the transpor‑ tation of metal elements in the marine biome. Keywords: Plastic, Marina Beach, Chennai, Trace metal, Vector Background Petroleum-based plastics are artificial organic polymers, obtained from natural gas or oil, and utilized in contemporary society in every aspect of daily life [1–3]. Global petroleum-based plastic production in *Correspondence: [email protected] † Suman Thodhal Yoganandham and Wei-Guo Li contributed equally to the manuscript 1 College of Life Science, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, Henan, China Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
2015 reached 322 million tons, while in 1950, the production was 1.7 million tons [4]. During the twentieth century urbanization in the vicinity of coastal environments, the utilization of petroleum-based plastic materials in the various applications, especially in the medicinal, industrial area, commercial, and municipal field, has steadily increased and unknowingly or knowingly released into the environment, which leads to a significant environmental problem [5–8]. Petroleumbased plastics may be fragmented, but cannot naturally break down due to their profound stability [9]. Even the
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