Are Nitric Acid (HNO3) Digestions Efficient in Isolating Microplastics from Juvenile Fish?

Naidoo, Trishan; Goordiyal, K.; Glassom, David

doi:10.1007/s11270-017-3654-4

Cited by 73 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Acids in general have a larger influence on synthetic polymers compared to oxidizers being most pronounced for PA and to a lesser extent for PS and PET. This was also stated by other authors (Dehaut et al, 2016;Karami et al, 2017;Naidoo et al, 2017;Duan et al, 2020), which underlines these results. Other studies furthermore report the partial degradation of other synthetic polymers, such as PE, PP, and PVC by acids HCl and HNO 3 (Karami et al, 2017;Naidoo et al, 2017).…”

Section: Effects Of Acids On Synthetic Polymers and Biogenic Organic supporting

confidence: 89%

“…The efficiency of biogenic organic matter destruction is matrix-dependent. For example, applying strong acids, such as nitric acid (HNO 3 ) led to very good digestion results regarding biota tissue, mainly consisting of proteins, carbohydrates and fats (Nuelle et al, 2014;Lusher et al, 2017;Naidoo et al, 2017). Karami et al (2017) confirmed this for HNO 3 and hydrochloric acid (HCl) digestion of fish tissue.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…When exposed to HNO 3 , the degradation or complete destruction of polyamide (PA) (Dehaut et al, 2016;Roch and Brinker, 2017;Duan et al, 2020), and a critical melting of polystyrene (PS) (Claessens et al, 2013) occurred. Concentrated HNO 3 and HCl may also dissolve nylon and partially degraded polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) (Karami et al, 2017;Naidoo et al, 2017). Catarino et al (2017) further reported that melding of PET and PE particles and complete dissolution of nylon fibers even occurs when using HNO 3 in lower concentrations of 35%.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Various Digestion Protocols Within Microplastic Sample Processing—Evaluating the Resistance of Different Synthetic Polymers and the Efficiency of Biogenic Organic Matter Destruction

Pfeiffer

Fischer

2020

Front. Environ. Sci.

129

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The digestion of biogenic organic matter is an essential step of sample preparation within microplastic analyses. Organic residues hamper the separation of polymer particles especially within density separation or polymer identification via spectroscopic and staining methods. Therefore, a concise literature survey has been undertaken to identify the most commonly applied digestion protocols with a special focus on water and sediments samples. The selected protocols comprise different solutions, concentrations, and reaction temperatures. Within this study we tested acids (nitric acid and hydrochloric acid), bases (sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide), and oxidizing agents [hydrogen peroxide, sodium hypochlorite and Fenton's reagent (hydrogen peroxide 30% in combination with iron(II)sulfate 0.27%)] at different concentrations, temperature levels, and reaction times on their efficiency of biogenic organic matter destruction and the resistance of different synthetic polymers against the applied digestion protocols. Tests were carried out in three parallels on organic material (soft tissue—leaves, hard tissue—branches, and calcareous material—shells) and six polymers (low-density polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, polypropylene, polyamide, polystyrene, and polyethylene terephthalate) in two size categories. Before and after the application of different digestion protocols, the material was weighed in order to determine the degree of digestion efficiency and polymer resistance, respectively. The efficiency of organic matter destruction is highly variable. Calcareous shells showed no to very low reaction to oxidizing agents and bases, but were efficiently dissolved with both tested acids at all concentrations and at all temperatures. Soft and hard tissue were most efficiently destroyed by sodium hypochlorite. However, the other reagents can also have good effects, especially by increasing the temperature to 40–50°C. The additional temperature increase to 60–70°C showed a further but less effective improvement, compared to the initial temperature increase. The resistance of tested polymer types can be rated as good except for polyamide and polyethylene terephthalate. Increasing the concentrations and temperatures, however, results in accelerated degradation of all polymers. This is most evident for polyamide and polyethylene terephthalate, which show losses in weight between 15 and 100% when the digestion temperature is increased. This effect is most pronounced for polyamide in the presence of acids and for polyethylene terephthalate digested with bases. As a concluding recommendation the selection of the appropriate digestion method should be specifically tested within initial pre-tests to account for the specific composition of the sample matrix and the project objectives.

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Section: Effects Of Acids On Synthetic Polymers and Biogenic Organic supporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Various Digestion Protocols Within Microplastic Sample Processing—Evaluating the Resistance of Different Synthetic Polymers and the Efficiency of Biogenic Organic Matter Destruction

Pfeiffer

Fischer

2020

Front. Environ. Sci.

129

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show abstract

“…stomach, intestines and rectum) 44 . Second, methods to separate ingested marine debris from gut contents range from visual examination of macro- and mesodebris in earlier studies 29 , 30 and microdebris in more recent studies 18 , to chemical digestion of GIT 33 and whole fish 48 (Supplementary Table S1 ). These different methods are likely to affect estimates of ingested marine debris, as chemical type cannot accurately be confirmed using visual examination only 20 , 23 , and chemical digestion can affect recovery of marine microdebris 49 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Classification of marine microdebris: A review and case study on fish from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Kroon

Motti

Jensen

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

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Marine debris, and in particular plastic pollution, is ubiquitous throughout global marine environments. Here, we present a classification of marine microdebris (i.e. debris between 0.1 μm and <5 mm) tailored to represent synthetic, semi-synthetic and naturally-derived items. The specific aim of this classification is to introduce a level of consistency in the higher-level characterisation of marine microdebris, thereby improving the overall reporting on marine microdebris contamination. We first conducted an extensive literature review on the accumulation of ingested debris in fish to identify discrepancies in marine microdebris reporting as a basis for the new classification. The review reveals the diverse nature of ingested marine microdebris, including items that are non-plastic but often incorrectly reported on as microplastics. We then applied our classification to a case study on wild-caught juvenile coral trout, Plectropomus spp., from the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, Australia. This first report on accumulation of ingested marine debris in commercial fish on the reef demonstrates a high frequency of occurrence and a prevalence of semi-synthetic and naturally-derived fibres. Based on our findings, we offer recommendations on potential improvements for the classification presented, ultimately contributing to a more realistic assessment of the ecological risks of marine microdebris.

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“…117 Currently, data surrounding atmospheric microplastics is sparse but attempts to quantify microplastics in the atmosphere have emerged. 91,118,119 Microplastics and passive samplers allow large air volumes to be filtered and analyzed, although samples may contain high levels of organic matter and may require complex digestion processes.…”

Section: Other Matrices Of Interestmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isolation and Extraction of Microplastics from Environmental Samples: An Evaluation of Practical Approaches and Recommendations for Further Harmonization

et al. 2020

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Are Nitric Acid (HNO3) Digestions Efficient in Isolating Microplastics from Juvenile Fish?

Cited by 73 publications

References 28 publications

Various Digestion Protocols Within Microplastic Sample Processing—Evaluating the Resistance of Different Synthetic Polymers and the Efficiency of Biogenic Organic Matter Destruction

Various Digestion Protocols Within Microplastic Sample Processing—Evaluating the Resistance of Different Synthetic Polymers and the Efficiency of Biogenic Organic Matter Destruction

Classification of marine microdebris: A review and case study on fish from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Isolation and Extraction of Microplastics from Environmental Samples: An Evaluation of Practical Approaches and Recommendations for Further Harmonization

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