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Airborne microplastics in Bandung and Osaka: Concentration and characteristics
Summary
Airborne microplastics were characterized in two cities - Bandung, Indonesia and Osaka, Japan - using attenuated total imaging and micro-FTIR spectroscopy as a preliminary comparative study. Airborne microplastic concentrations in total suspended particulates ranged from 1.03 to 14.27 particles per m3, with differences in polymer types and concentrations between the two urban environments.
Plastic is a material that is widely used in everyday life. It can be degraded into small-sized fragments (< 5 mm) called microplastics (MPs). Research on MPs has primarily focused on the aquatic environment, while studies on airborne MPs (AMPs) are still in their early stages. In this study, AMPs at two locations (Bandung (Indonesia) and Osaka (Japan)) were characterized by attenuated total imaging and micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, as a preliminary study. The concentrations of AMPs in total suspended particulates (TSP) in Bandung and Osaka ranged from 1.03 to 14.27 particles/m 3 and from 0.63 to 3.29 particles/m 3 , respectively. AMPs in both locations were fragmented, with dominant Feret diameters ranging from 1 to 20 μm.
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