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An optimized procedure for extraction and identification of microplastics in marine sediment
Summary
Scientists developed an improved method for extracting and identifying microplastics from marine sediment using a sodium bromide-zinc chloride solution combined with infrared imaging. Reliable extraction and identification methods are essential for accurately measuring microplastic contamination in seafloor sediments.
Microplastics (MPs) in sediment environments have been widely reported. As the number of samples increases, establishing a reliable and effective method becomes increasingly urgent for the rapid extraction and identification of MPs in sediments. Herein, we proposed a system with continuous density flotation of NaBr-ZnCl (mixture of NaBr and ZnCl) solution for extracting MPs in a sediment sample, combined with micro-Fourier transform infrared (μ-FT-IR) imaging scanning for identification of MPs. The recoveries of MPs were estimated for four different sizes, shapes, and ten different types of polymers. The results indicated NaBr-ZnCl solution showed a high recovery rate from 88.33% to 100.00% for extracting these different MPs. The μ-FT-IR imaging scanning allows for the detection of plastic down to the size of 6.25 μm in filed samples, and merely takes about 3 min, which was validated by testing of sediments from Jiaozhou Bay, China and its adjacent estuaries.