Evaluating the Effect of Chemical Digestion Treatments on Polystyrene Microplastics: Recommended Updates to Chemical Digestion Protocols

Alexandra Gulizia; Eve Brodie; Renee Daumuller; Sarah B. Bloom; Tayla Corbett; Marina M F Santana; Cherie A Motti; George Vamvounis

doi:10.1002/macp.202100485

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Evaluating the Effect of Chemical Digestion Treatments on Polystyrene Microplastics: Recommended Updates to Chemical Digestion Protocols

Journal article

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Peer reviewed

Evaluating the Effect of Chemical Digestion Treatments on Polystyrene Microplastics: Recommended Updates to Chemical Digestion Protocols

Alexandra Gulizia, Eve Brodie, Renee Daumuller, Sarah B. Bloom, Tayla Corbett, Marina M F Santana, Cherie A Motti and George Vamvounis

Macromolecular chemistry and physics, Vol.223(13), 2100485

2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/macp.202100485

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Abstract

marine plastics

microplastics

plastic degradation

plastic digestion

polymer analyses

Establishing the toxicity and exposure consequences of microplastics (MPs) on marine organisms relies on the nondestructive isolation of plastics from biological matrices. MPs are commonly extracted from these matrices by chemical digestion using alkali (e.g., potassium hydroxide (KOH) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH)), oxidative (e.g., hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 )) and/or acidic (e.g., nitric acid (HNO 3 )) reagents. Although these digestion conditions can be highly effective for MP extraction, they can also react with the plastics. This can attribute an inaccurate representation of plastic contamination by altering MP visual characteristics (size, shape, color), thereby impeding identification and potentially returning erroneous numbers of ingested particles. In this study, the degradative impacts are assessed of the routinely applied digestion reagents (i) KOH, (ii) NaOH, (iii) H 2 O 2 , and (iv) HNO 3 on polystyrene (PS) based MPs sized between 200 µm and 5 mm. Degradation of the PS MPs is evaluated using FT‐IR, gel permeation chromatography, NMR, photoluminescence spectroscopy, and microscopy. These studies reveal HNO 3 to be the most destructive for PS MPs, while the alkali and oxidative reagents result in negligible changes in plastic properties. These results are recommended to be used as a guideline to update current protocols to ensure the nondestructive treatment of MPs.

Details

Title: Evaluating the Effect of Chemical Digestion Treatments on Polystyrene Microplastics: Recommended Updates to Chemical Digestion Protocols
Authors/Creators: Alexandra Gulizia - AIMS@JCU
Eve Brodie - James Cook University
Renee Daumuller - AIMS@JCU
Sarah B. Bloom - AIMS@JCU
Tayla Corbett - James Cook University
Marina M F Santana - James Cook University
Cherie A Motti - Australian Institute of Marine Science
George Vamvounis - James Cook University
Publication Details: Macromolecular chemistry and physics, Vol.223(13), 2100485
Publisher: Wiley-VCH GmbH
Number of pages: 9
Identifiers: 991005892055007891
Murdoch Affiliation: Centre for Sustainable Farming Systems
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration
Citation topics: 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology; 3.60 Herbicides, Pesticides & Ground Poisoning; 3.60.2078 Microplastic Pollution
Web Of Science research areas: Polymer Science
ESI research areas: Chemistry