Use and mismanagement of plastics have led to an accumulation of plastic pollution in the environment, ranging from nanoplastic particles (&lt; 1 µm) to megaplastic products. Polymers have diverse molecular structures, additives, environmental transport, fates, contaminant affinities and degradation rates, thus different impacts on organisms.  Each size class poses a different threat to the environment, as well as a unique challenge to detect, isolate, identify and quantify polymers in complex environmental matrices. This presentation highlights the challenges and opportunities to measure plastics at every size in a collaboration between NIST and Hawaii Pacific University’s Center for Marine Debris Research (CMDR). Chemical methods are evolving rapidly to quantify microplastics (1 µm to 5 mm particles) from water, sand, sediment and digestive tracts of fish, seabirds and sea turtles. A “trifecta” of complementary instruments can provide comprehensive data on the number, size and polymer composition of microplastics (Fourier transform infrared [FTIR] microspectroscopy and Raman microspectroscopy) as well as mass fraction of micro- and nanoplastics (pyrolysis-gas chromatography mass spectrometry) in samples. Since 2019, NIST and CMDR’s trials have shown that one standardized method will not satisfy the needs of all complex environmental sample types. A workflow for extracting and quantifying microplastics for individual-particle measurements should always include: 1) anticipate the polymers and their chemical density in the chosen sample 2) identify potential chemicals for density separation or digestion 3) determine their compatibility with the expected polymers 4) modify separation apparatus for chosen sample and 5) perform spike recovery experiments. Our ongoing research tackles the challenges of quantifying micro- and the more challenging nano-plastics in the environment using chemical analytical techniques.

Methods for quantifying and characterizing micro- and nanoplastic pollution in environmental samples

Fall 2022 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch in mid-September.

ACS Fall 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.