Adaptation of a laboratory protocol to quantity microplastics contamination in estuarine waters.

ABSTRACT: One of the most used protocols to extract and quantify MPs is NOAA protocol in aquatic environments. However, there is still no standardized method to extract and quantify MPs in estuarine waters. The aim of this work was to adapt the NOAA protocol to quantify microplastics in estuarine water and provide all the details and changes to improve the efficiency of the method. For that, four types of plastic (PE-LD; PET; PA; PE-HD) were used in artificial samples to test all the steps of the protocol. Several criteria were tested, namely: (i) quantities of H₂O₂ used for organic matter degradation; (ii) temperatures of drying samples; and (iii) density separation efficacy. With the proposed modifications, the microplastics extraction were above 90%, regardless the type of p

SUBMITTER: Rodrigues SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6462778 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature