Uranium desorption from microplastic surfaces

The desorption of uranium from microplastic surfaces has been investigated as a function of pH in aqueous solutions under ambient conditions. In addition, the effect of complexing ligands (e.g. EDTA) on the desorption from plastic surfaces has been studied. The evaluation of the experimental data indicate that the solution pH and the presence of the complexing ligand in solution strongly affects the desorption process. These findings suggest that microplastics could act as radionuclide/uranium carriers into environment and living organisms. (author)