INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY OF CAMBODIA

FACULTY OF HYDROLOGY AND WATER

RESOURCES ENGINEERING
SUBJECT: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Microplastics in the soil environment: Focusing on the sources, its

transformation and change in morphology
Lecturer: Dr. HEU Rina
Group: 08

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 Team members

KHEN PIN KOY BORA

e20190388 e20190464

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 Basic information of paper

Author: Junyu Zhu, Guowen Dong, Fu Feng, Jing Ye, Ching-Hua Liao,
Chih-Hung Wu, Sheng-Chung Chen
Title: Microplastics in the soil environment: Focusing on the sources,
its transformation and change in morphology
Journal: Science of the Total Environment
Impact factor: 10.754
Publisher: Elsevier (20, October, 2023)
Volume: 896

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 Table of content

Transformation and change of

Introduction 1 3 MPs in the soil environment

Sources of MPs in soil 2 4 Discussion and perspective

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Conclusion and
recommendation
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1. Introduction
1.1. Background
• Plastics are complex, high-molecular polymers with
identical and simple unit structures.
• MPs are fragments of any type of plastic less than 5 mm
in length.
• They are categorized into bio-based and petroleum-
based plastics.
• Plastic waste is a growing concern, with nearly 400
million tons every year.
• the accumulated amount of plastic waste will reach 12
billion tons in 2050.

Plastic waste
70%
recycled; 18% 60% 58%

50%
40%
30% 24%
20% 18%

landfilled; 10%
incinerated;
58% 24% 0%
recycle landfilled incineraged

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 1. Introduction
1.2. Problem statement

MPs can impact on:

• Human health
• Animal
• System of ecological
• Environmental
By absorbing toxic substances of transport from
one place to another of MPs.

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 1. Introduction
1.3. Objective
Our object is focus on:
• Source of MPs
• How MPs transformation and change in
morphology

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 2. Sources of MPs in soil
AGRICULTURE
• Film mulching is a significant MP source in
agricultural environments due to its
intensive application and improper disposal.
• Organic amendments in agriculture can
improve crop productivity and soil health,
but they can also pose environmental and
human health risks due to their
composition and presence of pollutants just
like use manure, compost in the soil
environment.
• 72-99% of MPs accumulate in sewage
sludge, which is often used as a soil
amendment to fertilize agricultural fields.
ATMOSPHERE
• Human activity: Microplastic that came from
personal care products maybe 1500 tons has
escaped from the World Wasted Treatment
Plant (WWTP) by human throwaways. The
annual production of plastic textile fibers that
are produced by humans for 16% of world
plastic production.
• Plastic product: Plastic products, including
tires, release particulate around 3%-7% of
atmospheric PM2.5 is due to tire wear and
tear.
• Plastic waste: that comes from industry and
human families accumulates plastic waste in
landfills and natural habitats.
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 3. Transformation and change of MPs in the soil environment
Abiotic factor
• Thermal degradation: by using temperature in 300 -
700 to degradation MPs to low molecular gases, fuel
Oil.
• Photodegradation: when the ultraviolet (UV) light of
sun touch with oxidant can photocatalysis degradation
microplastic.
• Bacillus and Geobacillus were the main bacteria with
high biodegradation efficiency during hTC, and under
the action of these inoculants, 7.3 % (56 days, 70 °C)
• Bacillus, Staphylococcus, Micrococcus, Listeria, and
Vibrio (special) mangrove soil, the treated plot
showed a 2.0 % (90 days) mass loss
• Bacillus and Paenibacillus might be the most
potentially degrading bacteria in municipal landfill
sediment because they reduced the 14.7 % dry
weight of PE-MPs (60 days)
• Bacteria Pseudomonas and Rhodococcus were
biodegradation potential on PP-MPs medium for 40
days were 7.3 % weight loss rates respectively
Biological factor
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 3. Transformation and change of MPs in the soil environment

TABLE NATIVE STRAINS FROM SOIL ENVIRONMENTS REPORTED FOR BIODEGRADATION OF MPS.

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 4. discussion
Source of MPs: as mentioned earlier
• agricultural practices, including the use of plastic mulching and organic amendments
• atmospheric deposition contribute to the accumulation of MPs
• human activities such as the use of plastic products and the production and disposal of plastic waste
• Microplastic can through into the soil
• MPs also can transport by recent studies have identified the presence of MPs in the atmosphere can transport for distance of up
95 km.
• A survey showed that the abundance of MPs in indoor air (3.3 ± 2.9 fibers and 12.6 ± 8.0 fragments m−3) was twice as high as
that in outdoor air (0.6 ±0.6 fibers and 5.6 ± 3.2 fragments m−3)
• 2019 provided a quantitative estimate of MPs emissions from land application sludge, with annual environmental emissions of
MPs through sludge treatment estimated at 3,700,000 kg/year for PET and 310,000 kg/year for polycarbonate (PC).

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 4. discussion
Transformation and change in the morphology: as mentioned earlier
• Abiotic factor:

• Biological factor: Over the past decade, different insects, including Tenebrio Molitor, Zophobas morio, and Galleria mellonella, have
been identified as having plastic-biodegrading potentials.

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 5. conclusion
• MPs are fragments of any type of plastic less than 5 mm in length.
• The source of MPs can come from Agriculture and the atmosphere. Agriculture can come out from the mulching film and organic
amendments. For atmosphere can come out from human activities, plastic products, and plastic waste disposal that can be
transported to far ways within 95 km.
• Transformation and changes of MPs in the soil can be by an abiotic factor that focuses on weathering and chemical degradation,
thermal degradation, and photodegradation. And can be by biological factors that focus on some bacteria (microorganisms).

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 5. conclusion
5.1. recommendation

• Unify the expression method of MPs abundance in the

environment
• Develop relevant treatment measures for MPs in
WWTPs
• Predict the distribution of MPs and conduct risk
assessments by combining regional climate conditions
with geological information all around the world.

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THANK YOU
For attention and Q&A
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