Improvement of Microplastics Separation from Synthetic Samples – A Key Step for Their Analysis

Abstract

Identification of microplastics from the environment is a challenge mostly due to the complex nature and behavior of samples and lack of an efficient separation method. This paper approaches the issue of microplastics separation as determining step of their analysis. The separation of two types of commercial plastics from synthetic samples was investigated, namely polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high density polyethylene (HDPE). Subsequent filtration through filters with different porosities was tested and improved by adding a surfactant in the extraction medium. For the qualitative analysis of microplastic, optical microscopy and laser-granulometry were employed. The results proved the separation of microplastics from the samples and showed a distribution between 10-100 μm for PET and 10-200 μm for HDPE. These results provide basis for the efficient microplastics separation and further quantitative analysis from more complex samples, such as environmental samples.

Microplastics Removal from Municipal Wastewater Through Oxide-Biological Processes. Phase 1: Preliminary Fragmentation of Microplastics from Wastewater and Aerobic Pre-conditioning of Wastewater with Activated Sludge

“…The resulting solution is deposited on the surface of a NaCl cell and then evaporated to complete dryness. The film formed on the cell is analyzed directly [15,16,17].…”

Small micro- and nanoplastic test and reference materials for research: Current status and future needs

“…A critical issue with common grinding and milling techniques, however, is that they are not able to grind the plastics finely enough to produce reasonable yields of sMP and NP (Eitzen et al, 2019;Ciobotaru et al, 2020). While particles in this size range are often reported as being produced, they typically represent yields of <<1%, if they are calculated and reported at all.…”