Adsorption of different types of antibiotics on polystyrene microplastics

Abstract

Antibiotics and microplastics have been identified as emerging pollutants with potential nega-tive impacts on aquatic ecosystems. Microplastics may adsorb antibiotics, and their long-range transport may lead to compounding effects. This study investigates the adsorption of 6 antibiotics, i.e., erythromycin (ERY), vancomycin (VAN), sulfamethoxazole (SUL), and ofloxacin (OFL) and ampicillin (AMP), on polystyrene (PS) microplastic beads at different dosages in a controlled environment. With antibiotics be-ing ionizable compounds, it was found that their ionization constants varied depending on their functional groups.