Journal Article

Evidences of microplastics in aerosols and street dust: a case study of Varanasi City, India

Pandey, Dipika, Banerjee, Tirthankar, Badola, Neha, Chauhan, Jaspal Singh

2022

Overview

Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous in our environment. Its presence in air, water, and soil makes it a serious threat to living organisms and has become a critical challenge across ecosystems. Present study aimed to assess the abundance of MPs in aerosols and street dust in Varanasi, a typical urban city in Northern India. Airborne particulates and street dust samples were collected from various sampling sites around Varanasi City. The physical identification of MPs was conducted by binocular microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), while elemental analysis was made by energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX). Finally, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used for chemical characterization of MPs. Presence of MPs in both aerosols and street dust from all selected sampling sites was confirmed, however with varying magnitude. MPs of different colors having the shape of fragments, films, spherules, and fibers were recorded in the study while fragments (42%) in street dust and fibers (44%) dominated in aerosols. Majority of the MPs were < 1 mm in size and were primarily polypropylene, polystyrene, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polyester, and polyvinyl chloride types. The EDX spectra showed the presence of toxic inorganic contaminants like metallic elements on MPs, especially elements like aluminum, cadmium, magnesium, sodium, and silicon found to adsorb on the MPs. Presence of MPs in the airborne particulates and street dust in Varanasi is reported for the first time, thus initiating further research and call for a source-specific management plan to reduce its impact on human health and environment.

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Aerosols / air / Airborne particulates / Aluminum / Aquatic Pollution / Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution / Cadmium / case studies / Contaminants / Dust / Earth and Environmental Science / Ecotoxicology / electron microscopy / Environment / Environmental Chemistry / Environmental Health / Environmental science / Fibers / Fluorescence microscopy / Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy / Fourier transforms / Fragments / human health / India / Infrared analysis / Infrared spectroscopy / Inorganic contaminants / Magnesium / Microplastics / Microscopy / Particulates / Plastic pollution / poly(vinyl chloride) / Polyethylene / Polyethylene terephthalate / polyethylene terephthalates / Polypropylene / polypropylenes / Polystyrene / Polystyrene resins / polystyrenes / Polyvinyl chloride / Research Article / Sampling / Scanning electron microscopy / silicon / sodium / soil / Soil contamination / Soil water / Spectrum analysis / Spherules / toxicity / Waste Water Technology / Water Management / Water Pollution Control / X-radiation