CAREER: Micro- and Nanoplastics in Sea Spray: Emission, Transport, and Deposition in the Environment

职业：海浪中的微米和纳米塑料：环境中的排放、传输和沉积

• 批准号: 2145532
• 负责人: Hosein Foroutan
• 金额: $ 50.49万
• 依托单位: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-06-01 至 2027-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2145532&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Micro; Nanoplastics; Sea; Spray

Micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) have become pervasive pollutants throughout the world. MNPs have been found virtually in all ecosystems and environmental media. They can be easily ingested by living organisms and pose new risks to human and ecosystem health as they enter the food chain. Every year millions of tons of MNPs are released into oceans and seas. Recently, plastic particles were detected in air samples from marine atmosphere boundary layers. However, little is known about the processes and mechanisms that control the release and transfer of MNPs from oceans and seas to the atmosphere and other environmental compartments and media. This CAREER project will address these critical knowledge gaps. More specifically, the Principal Investigator proposes to carry out an integrated experimental and modeling project to test the hypotheses that 1) MNPs can be aerosolized and transferred to the atmosphere by sea spray through ocean/sea wave breaking and bubble bursting, 2) the aerosolization of MNP particles via sea spray is modulated by their size, shape, age, and composition, and 3) sea spray MNPs can be transferred to other environmental compartments and media through long-range atmospheric transport and deposition. The successful completion of this project will benefit society through the generation of new data and knowledge to advance the fundamental understanding and quantification of the atmospheric release, transport, and deposition of sea spray MNPs in the environment. Further benefits to society will be achieved through student education and training including the mentoring of two graduate students and two undergraduate students at Virginia Tech.A widely held assumption is that oceans and seas act as quasi-permanent sinks for micro-nanoplastics (MNPs); that is plastic particles which enter oceans and seas will remain there for extended periods. However, the detection of MNPs in air samples from marine atmosphere boundary layers suggests that particle transfer from oceans and seas to the atmosphere might be an important and yet poorly accounted pathway for plastic environmental transport and pollution. The overarching goal of this CAREER project is to investigate and quantify the aerosolization of MNPs via sea spray and their atmospheric transport, deposition, and accumulation in the environment. To advance this goal, the Principal Investigator (PI) proposes to carry out an integrated experimental and modeling program organized around four research tasks. Task 1 will investigate the generation of sea spray MNPs in a specially designed aerosol generator tank to simulate particle formation via ocean/sea wave breaking and bubble bursting using well characterized plastic particles as model systems. Task 2 will evaluate and quantify the relationships between the flux of aerosolized MNPs and particle size, shape, age, and composition. Task 3 will combine the data generated in Tasks 1 and 2 to develop and parameterize a process model that could be used to estimate the surface flux of sea spray MNP aerosols. Task 4 will integrate the MNP surface flux model from Task 3 into the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to simulate and quantify the transport and deposition of sea spray MNP aerosols in relevant environmental compartments and media. The successful completion of this project has the potential for transformative impact through the generation of new fundamental knowledge, data, and modeling tools to quantify the generation of sea spray MNP aerosols and their subsequent transport, deposition, and accumulation in the environment. To implement the education and training goals of this CAREER project, the PI will work with the Science Museum of Western Virginia to create a public exhibit with hand-on experiments to demonstrate the formation of sea spray aerosols and marine atmospheric MNPs using an exhibit version of the PI’s aerosol generation tank. In addition, the PI plans to partner with the Center for Enhancement of Engineering Diversity (CEED) at Virgina Tech to develop a training module for summer camps for pre-college students who are underrepresented in STEM. The proposed summer camp module will include a hands-on experiment during which the students will learn how to characterize aerosolized MNPs from the PI’s lab using optical microscopy and related image processing techniques.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

微型和纳米塑料（MNP）已成为全世界普遍存在的污染物。在所有生态系统和环境媒体中，实际上都发现了MNP。在进入食物链时，生物和生态系统健康构成了新的风险，可以很容易地摄取它们的新风险。每年，数以百万吨的MNP被释放到海洋和海洋中。最近，从海洋大气边界层的空气样品中检测到塑料颗粒。但是，对于控制MNP从海洋和海洋释放和转移到大气以及其他环境隔室和媒体的过程和机制知之甚少。这个职业项目将解决这些关键的知识差距。更具体地说，主要研究者提出的提议进行集成的实验和建模项目，以测试1）MNP可以通过海洋/海浪破裂和气泡破裂的海洋喷雾剂进行雾化并通过海上喷雾转移到大气中，2）通过海上喷雾剂通过海上喷雾来调节MNP颗粒的尺寸，以及其他媒体，并通过其大小，形状和3），以及3），以及3），以及3）。通过远程大气传输和沉积。该项目的成功完成将通过产生新的数据和知识来使社会受益，从而促进对环境中海洋喷雾MNP的大气释放，运输和沉积的基本理解和量化。将通过学生的教育和培训来实现社会的进一步好处，包括对弗吉尼亚理工大学的两名研究生和两名本科生的心理，这是一个广泛认为的假设是，海洋和海洋是微型塑料（MNPS）的准永久性水槽；那是进入海洋和海洋的塑料颗粒将长时间保留。但是，从海洋大气层边界层中检测空气样品中MNP的检测表明，从海洋和海洋到大气的颗粒转移可能是塑料环境运输和污染的重要但较差的途径。该职业项目的总体目标是通过海上喷雾及其大气传输，沉积和在环境中的积累进行调查和量化MNP的航行。为了促进这一目标，首席研究员（PI）提案要执行围绕四个研究任务组织的综合实验和建模计划。任务1将调查特殊设计的气溶胶发电机罐中海上喷雾MNP的产生，以通过海浪破裂和使用良好的塑料颗粒作为模型系统模拟颗粒形成。任务2将评估和量化雾化MNP的漏斗与粒径，形状，年龄和组成之间的关系。任务3将结合任务1和2中生成的数据，以开发和参数化过程模型，该过程可用于估计海上喷雾MNP气溶胶的表面通量。任务4将将任务3的MNP表面通量模型整合到社区多尺度空气质量（CMAQ）模型中，以模拟和量化相关环境隔室和媒体中海上喷雾MNP气溶胶的运输和沉积。该项目的成功完成通过产生新的基本知识，数据和建模工具，可以量化海上喷雾MNP气溶胶的产生及其随后的运输，沉积和在环境中的积累，从而产生变革性的影响。为了实施该职业项目的教育和培训目标，PI将与西弗吉尼亚州科学博物馆合作，通过手工实验进行公开展览，以证明使用Pi的Aerosol Generation Tank的展览版，展示海上喷雾剂和海洋大气MNP的形成。此外，PI计划与Virgina Tech的工程多样性（CEED）中心合作，为夏季营地开发一个训练模块，以针对STEM中代表性不足的预科学生的夏令营。拟议的夏令营模块将包括一个动手实验，在此过程中，学生将学习如何使用光学显微镜和相关的图像处理技术来表征PI实验室中的雾化MNP。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用该基金会的知识分子和更广泛的影响来评估NSF的法定任务，并被视为珍贵的支持。