I am following Karam et el (2017) method on digestion at 40C instead of 60C as most publications reported disruption in the plastic components. KOH had the most optimum digestion as well compared to other bases and acids by having the least damaging effects on the components. Im following 1:3 ratio (organ:solution). Most of my samples are cloudy. How to increase the digestion of my samples? Thank you.
Alia Nordin , I recommend you to try 60C, at this temperature the digestion works very well.
Best Regards
Alia Nordin Maybe at 60ºC it will work better. There are some studies that also add shaking tables stages, with 85-100 or plus rpm.
Thank you Franco Teixeira de Mello for your suggestions. But I have read that at 60C some of the plastic polymers will degrade and affect the plastics after digestion. At this point I would like to avoid damaging the polymers as to retain as much microplastics possible.
Thank you @Victor Vasques Ribeiro for the recommendation! I will definitely try digestion at 60C. However, I have read some publications stating that plastics can degrade at 60C and some of the polymers will be damaged. Do you have any suggestions based on this basis? Thank you
Hello Alia,
You are right, 60°C may degrade your polymers according to several authors... I suggest 40°C and let your sample until it becomes clear enough (Up to one week or 10 j). Continuous rotation is recommended too if available. You can raise the separation between organic matter and microplastics after digestion with a hypersaline solution (NaCl, KI, or NaI).
Best of luck.
Hi, I agree with Franco Teixeira de Mello ; you must try with KOH 10% at 60° for 24 hs or IDEM but 12 hs for very small fish guts!
cheers
I recommend you trying 2 step digestion. It works for us, avoiding damage. Article Microplastics on plankton samples: Multiple digestion techni...
Alia Nordin
Hello, morning, according to my experiences, I would firstly dry the samples, then digested with acid or alkaline, it will be much easier than directly digesting wet samples.
Thank you Chunzhi Cai for the suggestion. Do you have any reference on this method?
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