Effects of ionic strength and particle size on transport of microplastic and humic acid in porous media

As an emerging pollutant, the transport behavior of colloidal microplastic particles (CMPs) in saturated porous media may be affected by the simultaneous presence of other substances in the natural environment. In this study, colloidal polystyrene microplastic particles (PSMPs) were selected as the representative of CMPs to investigate the cotransport behaviors of CMPs in the presence of humic acid (HA) under varied environmental conditions (ionic strength: 1, 100 mM KCl; HA concentration: 0, 5, 10, 20 mg⋅L−1) in porous media. The presence of HA with different concentrations was found to increase the mobility of 1.0-μm and 0.2-μm CMPs in porous media in a non-linear and non-monotonic manner. Furthermore, the HA-facilitated transport of CMPs occurred under both electrostatically unfavorable and favorable attachment conditions (limited to the conditions examined in this study, corresponding to 1 and 100 mM KCl, respectively). The transport behavior of the smaller-sized CMPs (0.2-μm CMPs) was more sensitive to the change of ionic strength and the presence of HA than that of the larger-sized CMPs (1.0-μm CMPs). The cotransport process of CMPs and HA was affected by many factors. Modeling results showed that a small amount of competitive blocking occurred during the cotransport process. Moreover, both the presence of HA and change in ionic strength could affect the surface properties of CMPs. Thus, the cotransport behavior of CMPs with HA was different from the transport of individual CMPs in porous media. Experimental results revealed that HA induced complexity in the transport behavior of CMPs in the aqueous environment. Therefore, undeniably, a lot more systematic explorations are further demanded to better comprehend the CMPs cotransport mechanism in the presence of other substances.