Development of an optimal analytical protocol for the extraction of persistent organic pollutants adsorbed on plastic debris in the environment

TH028 Development of an optimal analytical protocol for the extraction of persistent organic pollutants adsorbed on plastic debris in the environment K. Sakaguchi-Soeder, Technische Universitaet Darmstadt / Institute IWAR Chair of Material Flow Management and Resource Economy Germany; T. Neuveglise, Technische Universitaet Darmstadt / Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; A. Goharnia, Technische Universitaet Darmstadt / Institue IWAR Chair of Material Flow Management and Resource Economy; M. Gottschling, Technische Universitaet Darmstadt / Institute IWAR Chair of Material Flow Management and Resource Economy Germany; A. van Oyen, Plastic Partner GmbH. Accumulation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs)-loaded microplastics (MPs) in the aquatic milieu is an emerging issue of international concern. Qualitative/quantitative determination of POPs on MPs is essential for the estimation of the impact of POPs-loaded MPs on a range of marine organisms. In general, hydrophobic pollutants like POPs are first extracted from the matrix, in this case plastic debris, using non-polar solvents. Then, the extract will be cleaned-up and analysed in e.g. gaschromatography/ mass-spectrometry (GC/MS). Some non-polar solvents applied for POP extraction, however, may dissolve plastic debris partially or completely, which disturb subsequence analyses. A number of methods have been reported for the extraction of POPs from MPs. Yet, the validity of these methods have not been fully discussed and the influence of polymers in extraction solvent on subsequent POP analysis has not been thoroughly investigated. The goal of the current study is the development of an optimal analytical protocol to extract POPs from different MPs. Known amounts of POPs were artificially charged on the surface of selected polymer particles, including preproduction resin pellets from different polymer type (polyethylene, PE; polystyrene, PS; polyethylene terephthalate PET, polypropylene, PP; poly vinyl chloride, PVC) in the laboratory. The POPs on plastic particles were extracted in selected solvents using soaking and sonication methods under different conditions. Solvents used in this study include n-hexane (nHex), isopropanol (iPrOH) and dichloromethane (DCM). Extraction methods and conditions were evaluated for a high extraction recovery, a high reproducibility, as well as for a minimal damage of polymer particles, i.e. carriers of POPs. The recovery rate and analytical reproducibility of POP was determined using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The loss of plastic weight was measured for the evaluation of the stability of plastic particles under given extraction conditions. Further, we investigated the influence of polymers dissolved in solvent on quantitative analysis for POPs. TU Darmstadt and CARAT are participants of an EU project “PLASTOX”, a consortium of a JPI Oceans’ Joint Action. TU Darmstadt is funded by BMBF