Selective determination of poly(styrene) and polyolefin microplastics in sandy beach sediments by gel permeation chromatography coupled with fluorescence detection. (November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Biver, Tarita; Bianchi, Sabrina; Carosi, Maria Rita; Ceccarini, Alessio; Corti, Andrea; Manco, Enrico; Castelvetro, Valter
• Is Part Of: Marine pollution bulletin. Volume 136(2018)
• Page Start: 269
• Page End: 275
• Publication Date: 2018-11
• Subjects: Gel permeation chromatography -- Fluorescence -- Marine litter -- Microplastics -- Polystyrene -- Oxidized polyolefins; Marine pollution -- Periodicals; Marine Biology -- Periodicals; Water Pollution -- Periodicals; Mer -- Pollution -- Périodiques; Publications périodiques; Pollution des mers; Lutte antipollution; Electronic journals; 363.7394
• DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.09.024
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0025-326X

Abstract

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 microplastics content in sand samples collected in the winter berm and dune sectors of a Tuscany beach in Italy. Graphical abstract: Highlights: Microplastics accumulation ashore is largely based on low density hydrocarbon polymers Quantitative determination of microplastics from marine sediments requires suitable analytical protocols Chromatographic separation with spectrofluorometric detection allows selective semi-quantitative analysis of poly(styrene) and degraded polyolefins Unprecedented semi-quantitative and selective determination of microplastics from shoreline sand sediments is achieved