Institute of Polar Sciences, CNR-ISP, Campus Scientifico - Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino, 155, 30172, Venezia-Mestre, Italy.
Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino, 155, 30172, Venezia-Mestre, Italy.
Chemosphere. 2020 Jan;238:124564. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.124564. Epub 2019 Aug 12.
Microplastics pose a worldwide risk for the environment. Microplastic fibers, which are released during the household washing of synthetic fabrics, are a substantial percentage of microplastics in rivers and in oceans. A novel quantification and simultaneous identification of fiber polymers via Micro-FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) was developed. Washing simulations with commercially available household products were performed and effluents were filtered either on GF/F filters (0.7 μm) or on Anodisc filter (0.2 μm), to gather even the smallest fibers. Furthermore, a novel purification procedure of effluents was developed. Subsequently, filters were analyzed also with the scanning electronic microscope (SEM) to confirm the width and length of fibers. This novel method is robust and replicable and it allows better quantification of fibers released and identification of fiber polymers with optimal matches (averagely 80%).
微塑料对环境构成了全球性的风险。在家庭清洗合成纤维的过程中会释放出微塑料纤维，它们在河流和海洋中的微塑料中占相当大的比例。通过微傅里叶变换红外光谱（Micro-FTIR）开发了一种新型的纤维聚合物定量和同时识别方法。使用市售的家用产品进行了洗涤模拟，并用 GF/F 过滤器（0.7 μm）或 Anodisc 过滤器（0.2 μm）过滤流出物，以收集甚至最小的纤维。此外，还开发了一种新的流出物净化程序。随后，用扫描电子显微镜（SEM）分析过滤器，以确认纤维的宽度和长度。这种新方法具有稳健性和可重复性，并且可以更好地定量释放的纤维并识别纤维聚合物，得到最佳匹配（平均为 80%）。
