HC Plastics News: Micro-plastics with a size of less than 5 mm are tiny, and are carriers of environmental pollutants and pathogenic microorganisms. The reporter learned from the Wuhan Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that researchers have provided important reference data for the world to understand the pollution level of microplastics in freshwater systems by investigating the micro-plastic pollution status of the Wuhan Lake Group and the Three Gorges reservoir area.

Plastics bring convenience to people's lives and bring environmental pollution problems. After disintegration of plastic products in terrestrial and aquatic environments, millions of small plastic particles are eventually formed, with particles less than 5 mm in size being defined as microplastics. The pollution and harm of micro-plastics in the water environment has attracted the attention of the scientific community. At present, research on micro-plastic pollution at home and abroad mainly focuses on the marine environment, while freshwater micro-plastic pollution data is relatively scarce.

The team of researchers Wang Jun of the Wuhan Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences investigated the micro-plastic pollution status of the Wuhan Lake Group and the Three Gorges Reservoir Area. Studies have shown that there is a significant spatial variation in the degree of micro-plastic pollution in lakes in Wuhan. The abundance of micro-plastics in water bodies decreases from urban lakes to peripheral lakes. This confirms the important influence of human factors on the distribution of micro-plastics in urban lakes.

The investigation of micro-plastic pollution in the surface waters and sediments of the Three Gorges reservoir area shows that in the water samples, the micro-plastic pollution in urban areas is more serious. In sediments, the most polluted areas are rural areas. High-density micro-plastics are easier to precipitate from water bodies into sediments than low-density micro-plastics.

In addition, qualitative analysis of Raman spectroscopy detected several micro-plastic adsorbed pollutants, such as organic solvents, pharmaceutical intermediates and so on. This study provides an important reference for international scholars to gain an in-depth understanding of the level of contamination of microplastics in inland freshwater systems.

The results of this research have recently been published in the key environmental journal "Environmental Science".

Editor in charge: Ye Dan

Elevator Component

product