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Removal of Co-Occurring Microplastics and Metals in an Aqueous System by Pristine and Magnetised Larch Biochar

STUART CAIRNS, Peter Holliman Orcid Logo, Iain Robertson Orcid Logo, Benjamin Harrison

Microplastics, Volume: 4, Issue: 3, Start page: 54

Swansea University Authors: STUART CAIRNS, Peter Holliman Orcid Logo, Iain Robertson Orcid Logo, Benjamin Harrison

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DOI (Published version): 10.3390/microplastics4030054

Abstract

Microplastics and metals are increasingly recognised as major water contaminants with profound environmental and health consequences. The environmental co-occurrence of microplastics and metals are well documented in waterways, including urban runoff, highway balancing ponds, industrial wastewater,...

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Published in: Microplastics
ISSN: 2673-8929
Published: MDPI AG 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70243
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Neither magnetised larch biochar nor pristine larch biochar show any statistical difference in the sorption of Pb with the inclusion of microplastics into the aqueous matrix. However, the inclusion of microplastics result in the reduced sorption of Zn by 43% for magnetised larch biochar (p &lt; 0.01) and 69% for pristine larch biochar (p &lt; 0.01). Magnetised larch biochar also demonstrated greater sorption than pristine larch biochar for microplastics (p &lt; 0.05), Zn co-occurring with microplastics (p &lt; 0.05), and Zn with no microplastics present (p &lt; 0.01). 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spelling 2025-09-26T12:07:51.8103529 v2 70243 2025-08-29 Removal of Co-Occurring Microplastics and Metals in an Aqueous System by Pristine and Magnetised Larch Biochar 30793e6e3c5175f8f9ced898770fe297 STUART CAIRNS STUART CAIRNS true false c8f52394d776279c9c690dc26066ddf9 0000-0002-9911-8513 Peter Holliman Peter Holliman true false ef8912c57e0140e9ecb2a69b7e34467e 0000-0001-7174-4523 Iain Robertson Iain Robertson true false 46c933ab8050055c926bd1b1c624a673 Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison true false 2025-08-29 Microplastics and metals are increasingly recognised as major water contaminants with profound environmental and health consequences. The environmental co-occurrence of microplastics and metals are well documented in waterways, including urban runoff, highway balancing ponds, industrial wastewater, and mine-impacted waters, posing a multifaceted environmental threat. Urgent remedial action is required to remove co-occurring microplastics and metals from water, giving consideration to how their co-occurrence can affect remediative efforts. However, information on the sorption of microplastics and Pb and Zn simultaneously by biochar is lacking. In this current study, changes in the quantity of metal adsorbed by pristine larch biochar and magnetised larch biochar due to the presence of microplastics was assessed using spectroscopic techniques. This study demonstrated that magnetised larch biochar and pristine larch biochar both remove co-occurring microplastics, Pb, and Zn from solution. Neither magnetised larch biochar nor pristine larch biochar show any statistical difference in the sorption of Pb with the inclusion of microplastics into the aqueous matrix. However, the inclusion of microplastics result in the reduced sorption of Zn by 43% for magnetised larch biochar (p < 0.01) and 69% for pristine larch biochar (p < 0.01). Magnetised larch biochar also demonstrated greater sorption than pristine larch biochar for microplastics (p < 0.05), Zn co-occurring with microplastics (p < 0.05), and Zn with no microplastics present (p < 0.01). Despite the effects of competitive sorption between Zn and microplastics, the removal of Pb, Zn, and microplastic from a multi-contaminant system indicate that magnetic larch biochar is a viable option to remove multiple contaminants from aqueous environs where metals and microplastics are seen to co-occur. Journal Article Microplastics 4 3 54 MDPI AG 2673-8929 microplastic; biochar; metals; competitive sorption; co-occurring contaminants; sorbent 26 8 2025 2025-08-26 10.3390/microplastics4030054 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Other This research was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), grant number EP/X525637/1. 2025-09-26T12:07:51.8103529 2025-08-29T15:33:58.1903738 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography STUART CAIRNS 1 Peter Holliman 0000-0002-9911-8513 2 Iain Robertson 0000-0001-7174-4523 3 Benjamin Harrison 4 70243__35181__62362fffb1f04b8abe0712522b5f8472.pdf 70243.VoR.pdf 2025-09-26T12:05:20.7867972 Output 3810174 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2025 by the authors. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Removal of Co-Occurring Microplastics and Metals in an Aqueous System by Pristine and Magnetised Larch Biochar
spellingShingle Removal of Co-Occurring Microplastics and Metals in an Aqueous System by Pristine and Magnetised Larch Biochar
STUART CAIRNS
Peter Holliman
Iain Robertson
Benjamin Harrison
title_short Removal of Co-Occurring Microplastics and Metals in an Aqueous System by Pristine and Magnetised Larch Biochar
title_full Removal of Co-Occurring Microplastics and Metals in an Aqueous System by Pristine and Magnetised Larch Biochar
title_fullStr Removal of Co-Occurring Microplastics and Metals in an Aqueous System by Pristine and Magnetised Larch Biochar
title_full_unstemmed Removal of Co-Occurring Microplastics and Metals in an Aqueous System by Pristine and Magnetised Larch Biochar
title_sort Removal of Co-Occurring Microplastics and Metals in an Aqueous System by Pristine and Magnetised Larch Biochar
author_id_str_mv 30793e6e3c5175f8f9ced898770fe297
c8f52394d776279c9c690dc26066ddf9
ef8912c57e0140e9ecb2a69b7e34467e
46c933ab8050055c926bd1b1c624a673
author_id_fullname_str_mv 30793e6e3c5175f8f9ced898770fe297_***_STUART CAIRNS
c8f52394d776279c9c690dc26066ddf9_***_Peter Holliman
ef8912c57e0140e9ecb2a69b7e34467e_***_Iain Robertson
46c933ab8050055c926bd1b1c624a673_***_Benjamin Harrison
author STUART CAIRNS
Peter Holliman
Iain Robertson
Benjamin Harrison
author2 STUART CAIRNS
Peter Holliman
Iain Robertson
Benjamin Harrison
format Journal article
container_title Microplastics
container_volume 4
container_issue 3
container_start_page 54
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 2673-8929
doi_str_mv 10.3390/microplastics4030054
publisher MDPI AG
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description Microplastics and metals are increasingly recognised as major water contaminants with profound environmental and health consequences. The environmental co-occurrence of microplastics and metals are well documented in waterways, including urban runoff, highway balancing ponds, industrial wastewater, and mine-impacted waters, posing a multifaceted environmental threat. Urgent remedial action is required to remove co-occurring microplastics and metals from water, giving consideration to how their co-occurrence can affect remediative efforts. However, information on the sorption of microplastics and Pb and Zn simultaneously by biochar is lacking. In this current study, changes in the quantity of metal adsorbed by pristine larch biochar and magnetised larch biochar due to the presence of microplastics was assessed using spectroscopic techniques. This study demonstrated that magnetised larch biochar and pristine larch biochar both remove co-occurring microplastics, Pb, and Zn from solution. Neither magnetised larch biochar nor pristine larch biochar show any statistical difference in the sorption of Pb with the inclusion of microplastics into the aqueous matrix. However, the inclusion of microplastics result in the reduced sorption of Zn by 43% for magnetised larch biochar (p < 0.01) and 69% for pristine larch biochar (p < 0.01). Magnetised larch biochar also demonstrated greater sorption than pristine larch biochar for microplastics (p < 0.05), Zn co-occurring with microplastics (p < 0.05), and Zn with no microplastics present (p < 0.01). Despite the effects of competitive sorption between Zn and microplastics, the removal of Pb, Zn, and microplastic from a multi-contaminant system indicate that magnetic larch biochar is a viable option to remove multiple contaminants from aqueous environs where metals and microplastics are seen to co-occur.
published_date 2025-08-26T05:30:22Z
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