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Producing micro- and nanoplastics for health risk assessments and environmental fate simulations
Citation:
Potter, Phillip M. Producing micro- and nanoplastics for health risk assessments and environmental fate simulations. Society for Risk Analysis Annual Meeting 2021, NA, OH, December 05 - 09, 2021.
Impact/Purpose:
Plastics breakdown into micro- (< 5 mm) and nano-sized (<100 nm) particles when they undergo environmental exposure and aging. While these microplastics have been studied in many geographic regions, there are still many questions about their origins. This research used quantum cascade laser-based infrared imaging to identify and quantify microplastic contamination from freshwater and urban watershed systems. These findings should influence future studies on microplastics by identifying sources of microplastics in freshwater and urban watershed systems. These methodologies may be useful to a variety of government and academic researchers investigating microplastics.
Description:
Research involving microplastics (polymer particles less than 5mm) is a quickly growing field and one of the newest aspects is the study of nanoplastics (less than 1 micron). Smaller size and increased surface area to volume ratio gives nanoplastics increased chance for uptake by biological systems, transport within these systems, and capability to leach hazardous components. Health risk assessments of micro- and nanoplastics require standard materials that are either reliably acquired or reproducibly made in the laboratory. Most standard materials currently available are micro- or nano-sized polymer beads which differ from actual micro- and nanoplastics in shape and composition. Without proper standard materials, risk assessments cannot accurately identify mechanisms of toxicity. In this study, we have utilized a variety of methods to physically degrade consumer plastic products to produce micro- and nanoplastics. The objective is to find a method to reproducibly produce specific size ranges of particles for use in method development and risk assessments. Two instruments were utilized to characterize our particles. Laser Direct Infrared (LDIR) spectroscopy was used for microplastics above 10 microns and Pyrolysis Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry (pyr-GCMS) was used to identify the presence of nanoplastics.