Interactions between microplastics and oil dispersion in the marine environment

Microplastics (MPs) and spilled oil are both major concerns in the marine environment. In this study, we investigated if and how MPs would interact with crude oil and potentially reduce the effectiveness of oil dispersants applied during oil spill response operations. With the addition of dispersant, MPs and oil (covered by dispersants through their hydrophobic tails) formed MPs-oil-dispersant agglomerates that were found to exist from the...