Separation of microplastics from river water in a rotating spiral column using a water-oil system

Cover Page

Cite item

Full Text

Open Access Open Access
Restricted Access Access granted
Restricted Access Subscription Access

Abstract

Determination of microplastic content in natural waters is an urgent task in assessing the degree of pollution of water bodies, identifying sources of pollution, as well as in assessing potential risks for inhabitants of aquatic ecosystems and water consumers. The solution of such a problem mainly lies in the field of analytical chemistry, with particle separation methods playing the most important role. The present work shows for the first time the possibility of applying the method of flowing microplastic separation in a rotating spiral column using a water-oil system to assess the content of microplastics in river water. Microplastics in the extracted particle samples were determined by pyrolysis gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection (Pyro-GC-MS). A water sample from the Moskva River was analyzed. Using the water-castor oil system, 1.8 mg/L of suspended solids were separated from river water. The decomposition procedure of the organic matter (30 % H2O2) of the sample reduced the mass of extracted particles to 0.4 mg/L. The residual fraction was studied by optical microscopy. According to the Pyro-GC-MS data, the total content of microplastics in the studied water sample was 109 µg/L, which is 1.4 % of the total suspended solids in the studied water sample. Five types of microplastics, namely polyethylene, polypropylene, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, acrylonitrile butadiene rubber and polyethylene terephthalate, among which polyethylene is the main type (97 µg/l), were identified. The proposed method is promising for estimation of microplastic content in natural waters.

Full Text

Restricted Access

About the authors

M. S. Ermolin

V.I. Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, RAS

Author for correspondence.
Email: ermolin@geokhi.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

A. I. Ivaneev

V.I. Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, RAS

Email: ermolin@geokhi.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

E. Yu. Savonina

V.I. Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, RAS

Email: ermolin@geokhi.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

R. Kh. Dzhenloda

V.I. Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, RAS

Email: ermolin@geokhi.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

References

  1. Geyer R., Jambeck J.R., Law K.L. Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made // Sci. Adv. 2017. P. 3.
  2. The Lancet Planetary Health. Microplastics and human health – An urgent problem // Lancet Planet. Health. 2017. V. 1. Article e254.
  3. Lebreton L., Andrady A. Future scenarios of global plastic waste generation and disposal // Palgrave Commun. 2019. V. 5. P. 1.
  4. Vivekanand A.C., Mohapatra S., Tyagi V.K. Microplastics in aquatic environment: Challenges and perspectives // Chemosphere. 2021. V. 282. Article 131151.
  5. Jambeck J.R., Geyer R., Wilcox C., Siegler T.R., Perryman M., Andrady A. et al. Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean // Science. 2015. V. 347. P. 768.
  6. Yuan Z., Nag R., Cummins E. Human health concerns regarding microplastics in the aquatic environment – From marine to food systems // Sci. Total Environ. 2022. V. 823. Article 153730.
  7. Wagner M., Scherer C., Alvarez-Muñoz D., Brennholt N., Bourrain X., Buchinger S. et al. Microplastics in freshwater ecosystems: What we know and what we need to know // Environ. Sci. Eur. 2014. V. 26. P. 1.
  8. Bergmann M., Gutow L., Klages M. Marine Anthropogenic Litter. Cham: Springer, 2015. 447 p.
  9. Thompson R.C., Olson Y., Mitchell R.P., Davis A., Rowland S.J., John A.W.G., McGonigle D., Russell A.E. Lost at sea: Where is all the plastic? // Science. 2004. V. 304. P. 838.
  10. Thompson R.C. Courtene-Jones W., Boucher J., Pahl S., Raubenheimer K., Koelmans A.A. Twenty years of microplastic pollution research-what have we learned? // Science. 2024. V. 386. № 6720. Article eadl2746.
  11. Ivleva N.P., Primpke S., Lynch J.M. Advances in chemical analysis of micro- and nanoplastics // Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 2023. V. 415. № 15. P. 2869.
  12. Ivleva N.P. Chemical Analysis of Microplastics and Nanoplastics: Challenges, Advanced Methods, and Perspectives // Chem. Rev. 2021. V. 121. № 19. P. 11886.
  13. Kuznetsova O.V., Shtykov S.N., Timerbaev A.R. Mass Spectrometry Insight for Assessing the Destiny of Plastics in Seawater // Polymers. 2023. V. 15. № 6. P. 1523.
  14. Ермолин М.С. Оценка содержания микропластика в природных водах и донных отложениях: пробоотбор и пробоподготовка // Журн. аналит. химии. 2024. Т. 79. № 5. С. 500 (Ermolin M.S. Assessment of the microplastics content in natural waters and sediments: Sampling and sample preparation // J. Anal. Chem. 2024. V. 79. № 5. P. 500.)
  15. Pasquier G., Doyen P., Kazour M., Dehaut A., Diop M., Duflos G., Amara R. Manta net: The golden method for sampling surface water microplastics in aquatic environments // Front. Environ. Sci. 2022. V. 10. Article 811112.
  16. Masura J., Baker J., Foster G., Arthur C. Laboratory Methods for the Analysis of Microplastics in the Marine Environment: Recommendations for Quantifying Synthetic Particles in Waters and Sediments. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS-OR&R-48, 2015. 39 p.
  17. European Commission. MSDF Guidance on Monitoring Marine Litter. Luxembourg, 2013. 128 p.
  18. Vermaire J.C., Pomeroy C., Herczegh S.M., Haggart O., Murphy M. Microplastic abundance and distribution in the open water and sediment of the Ottawa River, Canada, and its tributaries // FACETS. 2017. V. 2. P. 301.
  19. Lindeque P.K., Cole M., Coppock R.L., Lewis C.N., Miller R.Z., Watts A.J.R. et al. Are we underestimating microplastic abundance in the marine environment? A comparison of microplastic capture with nets of different mesh-size. Elsevier, 2020. V. 265. P. 114721.
  20. Dris R., Gasperi J., Rocher V., Saad M., Renault N., Tassin B. Microplastic contamination in an urban area: A case study in Greater Paris // Environ. Chem. 2015. V. 12. P. 592.
  21. Prata J.C., da Costa J.P., Duarte A.C., Rocha-Santos T. Methods for sampling and detection of microplastics in water and sediment: A critical review // TrAC, Trends Anal. Chem. 2019. V. 110. P. 150.
  22. Stock F., Kochleus C., Bänsch-Baltruschat B., Brennholt N., Reifferscheid G. Sampling techniques and preparation methods for microplastic analyses in the aquatic environment – A review // TrAC, Trends Anal. Chem. 2019. V. 113. P. 84.
  23. Wang W., Wang J. Investigation of microplastics in aquatic environments: An overview of the methods used, from field sampling to laboratory analysis // TrAC, Trends Anal. Chem. 2018. V. 108. P. 195.
  24. Hidalgo-Ruz V., Gutow L., Thompson R.C., Thiel M. Microplastics in the marine environment: A review of the methods used for identification and quantification // Environ. Sci. Technol. 2012. V. 46. P. 3060.
  25. Claessens M., De Meester S., Van Landuyt L., De Clerck K., Janssen C.R. Occurrence and distribution of microplastics in marine sediments along the Belgian coast // Mar. Pollut. Bull. 2011. V. 62. P. 2199.
  26. Sánchez-Nieva J., Perales J.A., González-Leal J.M., Rojo-Nieto E. A new analytical technique for the extraction and quantification of microplastics in marine sediments focused on easy implementation and repeatability // Anal. Methods. 2017. V. 9. P. 6371.
  27. Coppock R.L., Cole M., Lindeque P.K., Queirós A.M., Galloway T.S. A small-scale, portable method for extracting microplastics from marine sediments // Environ. Pollut. 2017. V. 230. P. 829.
  28. Imhof H.K., Schmid J., Niessner R., Ivleva N.P., Laforsch C. A novel, highly efficient method for the separation and quantification of plastic particles in sediments of aquatic environments // Limnol. Oceanogr. Methods. 2012. V. 10. P. 524.
  29. Quinn B., Murphy F., Ewins C. Validation of density separation for the rapid recovery of microplastics from sediment // Anal. Methods. 2017. V. 9. P. 1491.
  30. Monteiro S.S., Pinto da Costa J. Methods for the extraction of microplastics in complex solid, water and biota samples // Trends Environ. Anal. Chem. 2022. V. 33. Article e00151.
  31. Nuelle M.T., Dekiff J.H., Remy D., Fries E. A new analytical approach for monitoring microplastics in marine sediments // Environ. Pollut. 2014. V. 184. P. 161.
  32. Stolte A., Forster S., Gerdts G., Schubert H. Microplastic concentrations in beach sediments along the German Baltic coast // Mar. Pollut. Bull. 2015. V. 99. P. 216.
  33. Erni-Cassola G., Gibson M.I., Thompson R.C., Christie-Oleza J.A. Lost, but found with Nile Red: A novel method for detecting and quantifying small microplastics (1 mm to 20 μm) in environmental samples // Environ. Sci. Technol. 2017. V. 51. P. 13641.
  34. Rodrigues M.O., Gonçalves A.M.M., Gonçalves F.J.M., Nogueira H., Marques J.C., Abrantes N. Effectiveness of a methodology of microplastics isolation for environmental monitoring in freshwater systems // Ecol. Indic. 2018. V. 89. P. 488.
  35. Pfeiffer F., Fischer E.K. Various digestion protocols within microplastic sample processing – Evaluating the resistance of different synthetic polymers and the efficiency of biogenic organic matter destruction // Front. Environ. Sci. 2020. V. 8. Article 572424.
  36. Duan J., Han J., Zhou H., Lau Y.L., An W., Wei P. et al. Development of a digestion method for determining microplastic pollution in vegetal-rich clayey mangrove sediments // Sci. Total Environ. 2020. V. 707. Article 136030.
  37. Karami A., Golieskardi A., Choo C.K., Romano N., Ho Y.B., Salamatinia B. A high-performance protocol for extraction of microplastics in fish // Sci. Total Environ. 2017. V. 578. P. 485.
  38. Phuong N.N., Zalouk-Vergnoux A., Kamari A., Mouneyrac C., Amiard F., Poirier L., Lagarde F. Quantification and characterization of microplastics in blue mussels (Mytilus edulis): Protocol setup and preliminary data on the contamination of the French Atlantic coast // Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 2018. V. 25. P. 6135.
  39. Naidoo T., Goordiyal K., Glassom D. Are nitric acid (HNO3) digestions efficient in isolating microplastics from juvenile fish? // Water Air Soil Pollut. 2017. V. 228. P. 1.
  40. Cole M., Webb H., Lindeque P.K., Fileman E.S., Halsband C., Galloway T.S. Isolation of microplastics in biota-rich seawater samples and marine organisms // Sci. Rep. 2014. V. 4. P. 1.
  41. Courtene-Jones W., Quinn B., Murphy F., Gary S.F., Narayanaswamy B.E. Optimisation of enzymatic digestion and validation of specimen preservation methods for the analysis of ingested microplastics // Anal. Methods. 2017. V. 9. P. 1437.
  42. Karlsson T.M., Vethaak A.D., Almroth B.C., Ariese F., van Velzen M., Hassellöv M., Leslie H.A. Screening for microplastics in sediment, water, marine invertebrates and fish: Method development and microplastic accumulation // Mar. Pollut. Bull. 2017. V. 122. P. 403.
  43. Löder M.G.J., Imhof H.K., Ladehoff M., Löschel L.A., Lorenz C., Mintenig S. et al. Enzymatic purification of microplastics in environmental samples // Environ. Sci. Technol. 2017. V. 51. P. 14283.
  44. Crichton E.M., Noël M., Gies E.A., Ross P.S. A novel, density-independent and FTIR-compatible approach for the rapid extraction of microplastics from aquatic sediments // Anal. Methods. 2017. V. 9. P. 1419.
  45. Mani T., Frehland S., Kalberer A., Burkhardt-Holm P. Using castor oil to separate microplastics from four different environmental matrices // Anal. Methods. 2019. V. 11. P. 1788.
  46. Crew A., Gregory-Eaves I., Ricciardi A. Distribution, abundance, and diversity of microplastics in the upper St. Lawrence River // Environ. Pollut. 2020. V. 260. Article 113994.
  47. Koelmans A.A., Mohamed Nor N.H., Hermsen E., Kooi M., Mintenig S.M., De France J. Microplastics in freshwaters and drinking water: Critical review and assessment of data quality // Water Res. 2019. V. 155. P. 410.
  48. Марютина Т.А., Федотов П.С. Жидкостная хроматография со свободной неподвижной фазой в элементном анализе: от нефти до особо чистых веществ // Журн. аналит. химии. 2019. Т. 74. № 3. С. 201. (Maryutina T.A., Fedotov P.S. Countercurrent chromatography in elemental analysis: From oil to high-purity substances // J. Anal. Chem. 2019. V. 74. I. 3. P. 239.)
  49. Mandava N.B., Ito Y. Countercurrent Chromatography: Theory and Practice. New York, 1988. 841 p.
  50. Maryutina T.A., Soin A. V., Katasonova O.N. Counter-current chromatography for oil analysis: Retention features and kinetic effects // J. Chromatogr. A. 2009. V. 1216. № 19. P. 4232.
  51. Ermolin M.S. Savonina E.Yu., Katasonova O.N., Ivaneev A.I., Maryutina T.A., Fedotov P.S.. Continuous-flow separation and preconcentration of microplastics from natural waters using countercurrent chromatography // Talanta. 2024. V. 278. Article 126504.
  52. Munno K., Helm P.A., Jackson D.A., Rochman C., Sims A. Impacts of temperature and selected chemical digestion methods on microplastic particles // Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2018. V. 37. P. 91.
  53. Pan Z., Guo H., Chen H., Wang S., Sun X., Zou Q. et al. Microplastics in the Northwestern Pacific: Abundance, distribution, and characteristics // Sci. Total Environ. 2019. V. 650. P. 1913.
  54. Gewert B., Plassmann M.M., Macleod M. Pathways for degradation of plastic polymers floating in the marine environment // Environ. Sci.: Process Impacts. 2015. V. 17. P. 1513.
  55. Prata J.C., da Costa J.P., Girão A.V., Lopes I., Duarte A.C., Rocha-Santos T. Identifying a quick and efficient method of removing organic matter without damaging microplastic samples // Sci. Total Environ. 2019. V. 686. P. 131.
  56. Li K., Xing R., Liu S., Qin Y., Meng X., Li P. Microwave-assisted degradation of chitosan for a possible use in inhibiting crop pathogenic fungi // Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 2012. V. 51. № 5. P. 767.
  57. Huang Q.Z., Zhuo L.H., Guo Y.C. Heterogeneous degradation of chitosan with H2O2 catalysed by phosphotungstate // Carbohydr. Polym. 2008. V. 72. № 3. P. 500.
  58. Ishimura T., Iwai I., Matsui K., Mattonai M., Watanabe A., Robberson W. et al. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of mixtures of microplastics in the presence of calcium carbonate by pyrolysis-GC/MS // J Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis. 2021. V. 157. Article 105188.
  59. Scherer C., Weber A., Stock F., Vurusic S., Egerci H., Kochleus C. et al. Comparative assessment of microplastics in water and sediment of a large European river // Sci. Total Environ. 2020. V. 738. Article 139866.
  60. Ferreira M., Thompson J., Paris A., Rohindra D., Rico C. Presence of microplastics in water, sediments and fish species in an urban coastal environment of Fiji, a Pacific small island developing state // Mar. Pollut. Bull. 2020. V. 153. Article 110991.
  61. Kole P.J., Löhr A.J., Van Belleghem F.G.A.J., Ragas A.M.J. Wear and tear of tyres: A stealthy source of microplastics in the environment // Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2017. V. 14. № 10. Article 1265.

Supplementary files

Supplementary Files
Action
1. JATS XML
Download
2. Fig. 1. Micrographs of colourless particles separated into the oil phase from river water using a rotating spiral column.

Download (312KB)
Indexing metadata
3. Fig. 2. Micrographs of stained particles separated into the oil phase from river water using a rotating spiral column.

Download (138KB)
Indexing metadata
4. Fig. 3. Micrographs of fiber particles separated into the oil phase from river water using a rotating spiral column.

Download (91KB)
Indexing metadata
5. Fig. 4. Content of suspended particles, particles released into the oil phase, residue not decomposed in 30% H2O2, and microplastics in a water sample from the Moscow River.

Download (104KB)
Indexing metadata

Copyright (c) 2025 Russian Academy of Sciences