Reimann, Susan (2017) Entwicklung und Validierung einer Methodik zur Extraktion von Mikroplastikpartikeln aus Sedimenten. (Master thesis), Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Kiel, Germany, 76 pp.

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Abstract

The modern industrial society is asking for an increasing production and usage of plastic. Due to a generally deficient awareness of the condition of our invironment, the plastic end up in our nature. Microplastic develop under the influence of a degradation process on larger plastic fragments and is contained in cosmetics and also in cleaning supplies. By way of the sewage system and the rivers the microplatics enters the oceans. Plastic has a lower specific gravity than the marine water and drifts to the ocean surface. By adhesion of a biofilm on the microplastic, it´s able to be transported vertically in the hydrostatic head and by the process of deposition it ends up on the seabed. In order to evaluate the dimensions of the contamination in the marine environment, microplastic must be quantified. The following work attends to the development of a methodology to extract the microplastic particles from the sediments. The intention is to optimize the approach of a developed separation method which regards to the seperation of microplasticity and further to adapt the applicability to natural sediments. The seperation method was tested by the application of different sealing solutions and polymers. The quantification of the plastic particles was performed visually by using a binocular. The separation tests of PE microplastic particles out of quartz sand, with a calcium chloride solution (p =1.33 g/cm 3), showed a seperation efficiency of 100 % of the plastic particles > 63 μm. The separation efficiencies of the fractions <63μm vary strongly and show an inadequate response of the particles. On the contrary to it stood a row of experiments with a polymer mixture, wich has been extracted from quartz sand by using a sodium polytungstate solution (p=1.8g/cm3). The degradation of admixed organic material into the quartz sand could not be fully achieved with a sodium hypochlorite solution. The particles > 200 um showed a seperation efficiency of 100 %. Though, due to organic material on the filters, reproducible results of the particles <200 um could not be achieved. Therefore the seperation method, for natural sediments, has not been fully developed yet. Future, organic material must be completely eliminated from the filters in order to carry out the identification and quantification of microplastic particles with Raman spectroscopy and in addition the method has to be tested by using natural sediments.

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