Adsorption interactions of UV-aged microplastic particles with sulfamethazine

Due to growing plastic demand and production without proper waste management, microplastics have become common around the world throughout diverse systems. At the same time, increased detection of antibiotics in the environment has led to concerns over the spread of these antibiotics and antibiotic resistance. Evidence for microplastics' ability to adsorb and carry environmental contaminants has led to concern over the intersection of these two pollutants. Microplastic PET and recycled PET particles were UV-aged before they were used in batch adsorption tests with the antibiotic sulfamethazine. Neither the pristine condition nor the aged microplastic PET exhibit signs of adsorption with the sulfamethazine solution. Some interference was measured that may explain why adsorption was not detectable in these samples which bring up questions of leaching or desorbing compounds from microplastics that require further study.