Validation of a Method for Extracting Microplastics from Complex, Organic-Rich, Environmental Matrices.
By R. Hurley, A. Lusher, M. Olsen, L. Nizzetto. Environmental Science and Technology, 2018
805 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Complex and organic-rich solid substrates such as sludge and soil have been shown to be contaminated by microplastics; however, methods for extracting plastic particles have not yet been systemically tested or standardized. This study investigated four main protocols for the removal of organic material during analysis of microplastics from complex solid matrices: oxidation using H2O2, Fenton's reagent, and alkaline digestion with NaOH and KOH. Eight common polymer types were used to assess the influence of reagent exposure on particle integrity. Organic matter removal efficiencies were established for test sludge and soil samples. Fenton's reagent was identified as the optimum protocol. All other methods showed signs of particle degradation or resulted in an insufficient reduction in organic matter content. A further validation procedure revealed high microplastic extraction efficiencies for particles with different morphologies. This confirmed the suitability of Fenton's reagent for use in conjunction with density separation for extracting microplastics. This approach affords greater comparability with existing studies that utilize a density-based technique. Recommendations for further method optimization were also identified to improve the recovery of microplastic from complex, organic-rich environmental samples.
Subfields: Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Pollution
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5e19238f4b61001b3d6f2c6101bd97f1f567dceb
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In Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
- M. Kooi
- A. Pozzi
- G. Binda
- S. Mintenig
- Nur Hazimah Mohamed Nor
- A. Koelmans
- Silvia Galafassi
- Roberta Bettinetti
In Pollution
- M. Kooi
- A. Pozzi
- G. Binda
- S. Mintenig
- Nur Hazimah Mohamed Nor
- A. Koelmans
- Silvia Galafassi
- Roberta Bettinetti
Citations in the corpus
- Microplastic Contamination in Freshwater Environments: A Review, Focusing on Interactions with Sediments and Benthic Organisms (2020, background): “, [166,174]), in order to reach a clear understanding of the best techniques for different environmental matrices.”
- Microplastics in freshwaters and drinking water: Critical review and assessment of data quality (2019, background): “The reviewed studies here commonly used hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) which is known to affect some polymers (Hurley et al., 2018).”