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Experimental analysis of microplastics in beach sediment samples by density separation and microscopic examination
Summary
This thesis developed and tested methods for collecting and identifying microplastics in beach sediment through density separation and microscopic examination, contributing to standardization of sampling protocols needed to reliably assess coastal microplastic contamination.
This thesis mainly deals with microplastics, its sources and experimental approach to investigate the presence of microplastics in environment. Microplastics are threat to environment in recent years. Its adverse effect is directed towards aquatic animals. This thesis will provide the information about the sources of microplastics and how it ends up to the marine environment. The main objectives of this thesis project are to review the methods to analyze microplastics, develop methods to collect microplastic samples from local terrestrial environment and the procedure to analyze them in Arcada’s laboratory. Sediment samples collected from 4 different locations were examined using microscopic analysis. Two different methods were employed to analyze collected sediments samples. Sodium chloride was used as a density separator to extract microplastics from sample. Results obtained from microscopic analysis showed the presence of colored microplastics and fibers in all the collected sediment samples.