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Chapter Extraction and characterization methods for microplastics from estuarine and coastal samplings – Example of the 2019 TARA expedition
Summary
This study developed extraction methods and automated polymer characterization for microplastics collected from 9 major European rivers during the 2019 TARA expedition, finding polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene as the three main polymers. The automated processing pipeline enables consistent, reproducible chemical identification of river microplastics at scale, providing a comparative framework for multi-river pollution assessment.
To investigate plastic pollution in rivers, the Tara schooner collected samples from 9 of the main European rivers from May to November 2019. The objectives of the present study are the quantification of the microplastic (MP) contamination and the identification of the chemical nature of microplastics. Thus, extraction methods and automated computer processing for polymer characterization were developed. The three main polymers found were polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS). These results must be compared to the results from other rivers to draw a consistent pattern.