Microplastics pollution has become a drastic challenge without fully understood consequences. Scientific news continue to report the presence of microplastics in the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere; in fact, studies have reported their findings in remote areas such as Antarctica. Furthermore, recent publications on microplastics have shown their presence in human blood without clear conclusions regarding any adverse human health effect. Today, a plethora of literature has been published in regards to their extraction and analyses from fresh and oceanic water; however, studies in soil are still limited. Thus, we started an internal and collaborative project to collect, extract, and analyze soil samples from rural and urban sites. Our team members include non-chemistry and chemistry major students with direct supervision by a Master’s student. To collect samples from the field, we employed plastic-free tools and sample holders; all the soil selected passed through a low-cost samples processing, a Fenton oxidation to remove organic matter, and multiple filtrations; isolated microplastics and microfibers were analyzed using spectroscopic and microscopy techniques. The undergraduate students in this project were able to collaborate successfully with hands-on experience regardless of their major, and their results were presented at our university-wide symposium. Furthermore, the graduate student continues the soil analyses and is currently pursuing the development of a greener microplastic step to substitute the Fenton oxidation. Finally, these efforts seek to become a seed for a second phase in our project where citizen-scientists collect small soil samples and ship them to our laboratory for analyses.

Synergistic research project between non-chemistry and chemistry majors to address microplastics pollution in urban and rural soil

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ACS Spring 2023

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