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Oluwoye I, Machuca LL, Higgins S, Suh S, Galloway TS, Halley P, Tanaka S, Iannuzzi M. Degradation and lifetime prediction of plastics in subsea and offshore infrastructures. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 904:166719. [PMID: 37673242 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2023] [Revised: 08/25/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/08/2023]
Abstract
Engineering and civil developments have relied on synthetic polymers and plastics (including polyethylene, polypropylene, polyamide, etc.) for decades, especially where their durability protects engineering structures against corrosion and other environmental stimuli. Offshore oil and gas infrastructure and renewable energy platforms are typical examples, where these plastics (100,000 s of metric tonnes worldwide) are used primarily as functional material to protect metallic flowlines and subsea equipment against seawater corrosion. Despite this, the current literature on polymers is limited to sea-surface environments, and a model for subsea degradation of plastics is needed. In this review, we collate relevant studies on the degradation of plastics and synthetic polymers in marine environments to gain insight into the fate of these materials when left in subsea conditions. We present a new mathematical model that accounts for various physicochemical changes in the oceanic environment as a function of depth to predict the lifespan of synthetic plastics and the possible formation of plastic debris, e.g., microplastics. We found that the degradation rate of the plastics decreases significantly as a function of water depth and can be estimated quantitatively by the mathematical model that accounts for the effect (and sensitivity) of geographical location, temperature, light intensity, hydrostatic pressure, and marine sediments. For instance, it takes a subsea polyethylene coating about 800 years to degrade on ocean floor (as opposed to <400 years in shallow coastal waters), generating 1000s of particles per g of degradation under certain conditions. Our results demonstrate how suspended sediments in the water column are likely to compensate for the decreasing depth-corrected degradation rates, resulting in surface abrasion and the formation of plastic debris such as microplastics. This review, and the complementing data, will be significant for the environmental impact assessment of plastics in subsea infrastructures. Moreover, as these infrastructures reach the end of their service life, the management of the plastic components becomes of great interest to environmental regulators, industry, and the community, considering the known sizeable impacts of plastics on global biogeochemical cycles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ibukun Oluwoye
- Curtin Corrosion Centre, Western Australian School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering, Curtin University, Perth, Australia; Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan.
| | - Laura L Machuca
- Curtin Corrosion Centre, Western Australian School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
| | - Stuart Higgins
- Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6824, Australia
| | - Sangwon Suh
- Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - Tamara S Galloway
- College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QD, UK
| | - Peter Halley
- School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Shuhei Tanaka
- Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Mariano Iannuzzi
- Curtin Corrosion Centre, Western Australian School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
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Duivenvoorden JR, Caporaletti F, Woutersen S, Keune K, Hermans JJ. Nanoconfined Water Clusters in Zinc White Oil Paint. THE JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY. C, NANOMATERIALS AND INTERFACES 2023; 127:19269-19277. [PMID: 37791101 PMCID: PMC10544026 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.3c04720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2023] [Revised: 08/31/2023] [Indexed: 10/05/2023]
Abstract
Pigments in oil paint are bound by a complex oil polymer network that is prone to water-related chemical degradation. We use cryo-Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry to study how water distributes inside zinc white oil paint. By measuring water freezing and melting transitions, we show that water-saturated zinc white oil paint contains both liquid-like clustered water and nonclustered water. A comparison of titanium white paint and nonpigmented model systems indicates that water clustering happens near the pigment-polymer interface. The cluster size was estimated in the nanometer range based on the ice melting and freezing temperatures and on the position of the O-D vibration band. As liquid-like water can play a crucial role in the dissolution and transport of ions and molecules, understanding the factors that favor this phenomenon is essential for establishing safe conditions for the conservation of painted works of art.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jorien R. Duivenvoorden
- Van
‘t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Conservation
& Science, Rijksmuseum Hobbemastraat 22, 1071 ZC Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Federico Caporaletti
- Laboratory
of Polymer and Soft Matter Dynamics, Experimental Soft Matter and
Thermal Physics, Université Libre
de Bruxelles Avenue, Franklin Roosevelt 50, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Sander Woutersen
- Van
‘t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Katrien Keune
- Van
‘t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Conservation
& Science, Rijksmuseum Hobbemastraat 22, 1071 ZC Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Joen J. Hermans
- Van
‘t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Conservation
& Science, Rijksmuseum Hobbemastraat 22, 1071 ZC Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Conservation
& Restoration, Amsterdam School of Heritage, Memory and Material
Culture, University of Amsterdam Turfdraagsterpad 15-17, 1012 XT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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