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Impacts of temperature and selected chemical digestion methods on microplastic particles
Author(s) -
Munno Keenan,
Helm Paul A.,
Jackson Donald A.,
Rochman Chelsea,
Sims Alina
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
environmental toxicology and chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1552-8618
pISSN - 0730-7268
DOI - 10.1002/etc.3935
Subject(s) - microplastics , environmental chemistry , chemistry , boiling , digestion (alchemy) , peroxide , polymer , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , chemical engineering , chromatography , organic chemistry , engineering
Alkaline and wet peroxide oxidation chemical digestion techniques used to extract microplastics from organic matrices were assessed for recoveries and for impacts on ability to identify polymer types. Methods using wet peroxide oxidation generated enough heat to result in the complete loss of some types of microplastic particles, and boiling tests confirmed that temperatures >70 °C were responsible for the losses. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR) confirmed minimal alteration of the recovered polymers by the applied methods. Environ Toxicol Chem 2018;37:91–98. © 2017 SETAC