The <i>M/V X‑Press Pearl</i> Nurdle Spill: Contamination of Burnt Plastic and Unburnt Nurdles along Sri Lanka’s Beaches

In May 2021, the M/V X-Press Pearl cargo ship caught fire 18 km off the west coast of Sri Lanka and spilled ∼1680 tons of spherical pieces of plastic or “nurdles” (∼5 mm; white in color). Nurdles are the preproduction plastic used to manufacture a wide range of end products. Exposure to combustion, heat, and chemicals led to agglomeration, fragmentation, charring, and chemical modification of the plastic, creating an unprecedented complex spill of visibly burnt plastic and unburnt nurdles. These pieces span a continuum of colors, shapes, sizes, and densities with high variability that could impact cleanup efforts, alter transport in the ocean, and potentially affect wildlife. Visibly burnt plastic was 3-fold more chemically complex than visibly unburnt nurdles. This added chemical complexity included combustion-derived polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. A portion of the burnt material contained petroleum-derived biomarkers, indicating that it encountered some fossil-fuel products during the spill. The findings of this research highlight the added complexity caused by the fire and subsequent burning of plastic for cleanup operations, monitoring, and damage assessment and provides recommendations to further understand and combat the impacts of this and future spills.2021年5月，机动船“X速珍珠号”（M/V X-Press Pearl）货轮在斯里兰卡西海岸外18公里海域起火，泄漏约1680吨球形塑料颗粒，即塑料原料粒（nurdles），粒径约5毫米，呈白色。塑料原料粒是用于制造各类终端产品的预生产塑料原料。塑料颗粒在接触燃烧、高温与化学物质后，发生团聚、碎裂、炭化及化学改性，由此形成了兼具目视可见焚烧塑料与未焚烧塑料原料粒的前所未有的复杂泄漏体系。此类泄漏颗粒在颜色、形状、尺寸与密度上呈现高度异质性与连续分布跨度，这不仅会对泄漏清理工作造成阻碍，改变其在海洋中的输运过程，还可能对野生生物造成潜在危害。经检测，目视可见的焚烧塑料，其化学复杂程度是未焚烧塑料原料粒的3倍。这类新增的化学复杂性成分包含燃烧衍生的多环芳烃（polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons）。部分焚烧产物中含有石油衍生生物标志物，表明其在泄漏过程中接触过部分化石燃料类物质。本研究结果凸显了塑料起火及后续燃烧所带来的额外复杂性，该复杂性对泄漏事故的清理作业、环境监测与损害评估均产生显著影响；同时本研究提出了相关建议，以助力进一步认识并应对本次及未来同类塑料泄漏事故的环境影响。