Various tiny plastic particles were studied using SEM/EDX analysis to prepare reference microplastics. Most of the particles were composed of polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene. Standard laboratory weathering methods took a long time to reproduce the composition, but seawater significantly improved the degradation process.
Various tiny plastic particles were retrieved from the sea and studied using scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX) analysis to prepare realistic reference microplastics (MP). Most of the MP exhibited a diameter of < 20 x 10(-6) m and 0.1-0.2 molar ratios of oxygen to carbon atoms (O/C), indicating that they primarily comprised polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS). It took a long time to reproduce such O/C ratios in standard laboratory weathering methods. For example, degrading of 30 x 30 x 0.060 mm PP film required 75 days for the 0.1 ratio, even with an advanced oxidation process (AOP) using a sulfate radical anion (SO4 center dot(-)) initiator in distilled water at 65 degrees C. However, seawater drastically improved the PP degradation performance of AOP under a weak acid condition to achieve the 0.1 ratio of PP film in only 15 days. The combination of seawater and the SO4 center dot(-) initiator accelerated the degradation process and showed that the MP's size could be controlled according to the degradation time.
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