I have begun the process to separate microplastics () in our lab. The techniques are fairly crude it seems, and involves a lot of shaking of separation funnels. There is plenty material on who has done what etc, but virtually nothing on the actual processes involved. I therefore with a bit of deduction have managed to figure it out (I hope), but can anyone suggest how I might identify the plastics involved using techniques other than density separation and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).
I have seen mention of UV light processes, but no-one elaborates on this methodology - thanks in advance!
Thanks for that Renjith. I have seen a similar process using equipment like this from a Japanese team (I would have to go through my catalogue to find it). What I find of real concern, is that even with a basic 300g/L NaCl solution and separation funnel I have been able to separate multiple micro plastic fibres already.
My preliminary results are in the order of 40-60 pieces of micro plastics per KG of beach sand. So a 30% improvement using the methodology you outlined could potentially raise my results beyond the average figures published in other studies. I can only hope I am wrong!!!
Hello,
I have no experience on it. i am sorry.
All the best,
Nathalie
I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for, but some colleagues have developed the Munich Plastic Sediment Seperator, MPSS. See: Imhof, H., Schmid, J., Niessner, R., Ivleva, N. P. & Laforsch, C. 2012. A novel highly efficient method for the quantification of plastic particles in sediments of aquatic environments. L & O Methods. And: http://www.evolutionary-ecology.bio.lmu.de/people/phdstudents/imhof/index.html
Jonas
Thanks Aria, this is certainly one of the more in depth studies, and one of the few that give clear direction on the separation techniques.
They mirror what I have done to date, however based on what I have seen I would have real reservations on using large amounts of sediment regardless of how much supernatant I was using. The way in which sediment is able to trap micro plastics so quickly from a suspension would mean multiple runs through filters.
The techniques using aeration appear to get the best of all worlds - perhaps I can persuade UHI to provide suitable equipment for a bigger study!
Hi, you can look up the MICRO program by IFREMER as well. Ton of work done by them and great videos and references. http://wwz.ifremer.fr/webtv/Actualites-de-la-WebTV/Programme-MICRO
Best regards,
Remi
Hello Colin, I have only just seen your email so this may be way out of date. Are you not a member of the MASTS Scottish Microplastics Research Group (SMRG)? Some folk from UHI have been involved, but i don't see your name on the list. We recently hosted a workshop here in UWS on sample collection for MP extraction. Feel free to get in touch if you need any more information.
Regards,
Brian.
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