Study of sorption of pharmaceuticals and compounds from personal care products to microplastics underfield conditions

With the development of civilization and the chemical industry, a whole range of new anthropogenic substances is being introduced into the environment. Some of these substances are produced primarily - targeted for a specific purpose (e.g. pesticides and pharmaceuticals) and others are created as a by-product of chemical synthesis or they are degradation products of primary substances. Whether they are low-molecular substances or macromolecules, in addition to their positive effect on mankind, these substances can also retroactively threaten the environment, including humans. The present work deals with interactions between two groups of xenobiotics, which appear to be a huge global problem. As part of this work, the sorption of a wide group of substances belonging to pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) on man-made microplastics from three types of polymers (PVC, HDPE, and PET) in real wastewater was studied. Two different locations were chosen for this experiment - effluents from wastewater treatment plants. Several sampling devices containing different types of microplastics were installed at these sites, including artificially aged alternatives that better reflect the behavior of microplastics found in real conditions. The results of these experiments showed the ability of..