Microplastics generated by plastics waste degradation are ubiquitous in marine and freshwater basins, posing serious environmental concerns. Raman and FTIR spectroscopies, along with techniques such as pyrolysis-GC/MS, are typically used for their identification. We present a procedure based on gel permeation chromatography (GPC) coupled with fluorescence detection for semi-quantitative selective determination of the most common microplastics found in marine shoreline sediments: poly(styrene) (PS) and partially degraded polyolefins (LDPEox). By operating the detector at either 260/280 or 370/420 nm excitation/emission wavelengths PS can be distinguished from LDPEox upon GPC separation. Semi-quantitative determination of microplastics contents is also possible: dichloromethane extracts of PS and LDPEox yield linear plots of fluorescence peak area vs concentration (0-5.0 mg/mL range) and were used as reference materials for quantification of the plastics content in sand samples collected in the winter berm and dune sectors of a Tuscany beach in Italy.

Selective determination of poly(styrene) and polyolefin microplastics in sandy beach sediments by gel permeation chromatography coupled with fluorescence detection

Tarita Biver
Primo
Supervision
;
Sabrina Bianchi
Investigation
;
Maria Rita Carosi
Investigation
;
Alessio Ceccarini
Membro del Collaboration Group
;
Andrea Corti
Secondo
Writing – Original Draft Preparation
;
MANCO, ENRICO
Investigation
;
Valter Castelvetro
Ultimo
Writing – Review & Editing
2018-01-01

Abstract

Microplastics generated by plastics waste degradation are ubiquitous in marine and freshwater basins, posing serious environmental concerns. Raman and FTIR spectroscopies, along with techniques such as pyrolysis-GC/MS, are typically used for their identification. We present a procedure based on gel permeation chromatography (GPC) coupled with fluorescence detection for semi-quantitative selective determination of the most common microplastics found in marine shoreline sediments: poly(styrene) (PS) and partially degraded polyolefins (LDPEox). By operating the detector at either 260/280 or 370/420 nm excitation/emission wavelengths PS can be distinguished from LDPEox upon GPC separation. Semi-quantitative determination of microplastics contents is also possible: dichloromethane extracts of PS and LDPEox yield linear plots of fluorescence peak area vs concentration (0-5.0 mg/mL range) and were used as reference materials for quantification of the plastics content in sand samples collected in the winter berm and dune sectors of a Tuscany beach in Italy.
2018
Biver, Tarita; Bianchi, Sabrina; Carosi, MARIA RITA; Ceccarini, Alessio; Corti, Andrea; Manco, Enrico; Castelvetro, Valter
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Mar Poll Bull 136 (2018) 269–275.pdf

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Microplastiche MPB 2018.pdf

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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11568/930121
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