Institute for water of the Republic of Slovenia

2 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Environment

Protocol for Microplastics Sampling on the Sea Surface and Sample Analysis

Manca Kovač Viršek¹, Andreja Palatinus¹, Špela Koren¹, Monika Peterlin¹, Petra Horvat², Andrej Kržan²

¹Sector for Marine Waters, Institute for water of the Republic of Slovenia, ²Laboratory for Polymer Chemistry and Technology, National Institute for Chemistry Slovenia

The protocol below describes the methodology for: microplastics sampling on the sea surface, separation of microplastic and chemical identification of particles. This protocol is in line with the recommendations for microplastics monitoring published by the MSFD Technical Subgroup on Marine Litter.

Environment

Extraction of Organochlorine Pesticides from Plastic Pellets and Plastic Type Analysis

Marilyne Pflieger¹, Petra Makorič¹, Manca Kovač Viršek², Špela Koren²

¹Laboratory for Environmental Research, University of Nova Gorica, ²Sector for Marine Waters, Institute for Water of the Republic of Slovenia

Microplastics act as vector of potentially toxic organic contaminants with unpredictable effects. This protocol describes an alternative methodology for assessing the levels of organochlorine pesticides adsorbed on plastic pellets and identifying the polymer chemical structure. The focus is on pressurized fluid extraction and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.