Partition/organic matrix, contaminants

In a sediment system, the hydrolysis rate constant of an organic contaminant is affected by its retention and release with the sohd phase. Wolfe (1989) proposed the hydrolysis mechanism shown in Fig. 13.4, where P is the organic compound, S is the sediment, P S is the compound in the sorbed phase, k and k" are the sorption and desorption rate constants, respectively, and k and k are the hydrolysis rate constants. In this proposed model, sorption of the compound to the sediment organic carbon is by a hydrophobic mechanism, described by a partition coefficient. The organic matrix can be a reactive or nonreactive sink, as a function of the hydrolytic process. Laboratory studies of kinetics (e.g., Macalady and Wolfe 1983, 1985 Burkhard and Guth 1981), using different organic compounds, show that hydrolysis is retarded in the sohd-associated phase, while alkaline and neutral hydrolysis is unaffected and acid hydrolysis is accelerated. 

Wolfe (1989) suggested a model to describe abiotic reduction in sediments, where a nonreactive sorptive site and an independent reactive sorptive site are considered. The nonreactive sorptive sink is consistent with partitioning of the contaminant to the organic carbon matrix of the solids. The model is described by Fig. 13.5 where P S is the compound at the reactive sorbed site P is the compound in the aqueous phase S and S are the sediments, P S is the compound in the nonreactive sink k, k , k , and k are the sorption-desorption rate constants, and k, k, and k are the respective reaction rate constants. If the reaction constants k and k are neglected, two rate-limiting situations are observed transport to the reactive site and reduction at the reactive site. The available kinetic data, however, do not allow one to distinguish between the two mechanisms. 

As microplastics move through the environment they can sorb and transport other contaminants. Plastic debris scooped from the ocean has contained polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at concentrations up to 5 parts per million and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) at approximately 7 PPM, for example [145-147]. Of particular concern are persistent, bioac-cumulative, and toxic (PBT) compounds that would tend to partition into a plastic matrix due to their hydrophobicity the logical inference is fhaf floaf-ing microplastics could transport PBT compounds through the environment and that perhaps the PBT compounds would enter the food chain as organisms ingested fhe plastic fragments. 

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