Rapid extraction of high- and low-density microplastics from soil using high-gradient magnetic separation

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 831; p. 154912
• Main Authors: Ramage, Stuart J.F.F., Pagaling, Eulyn, Haghi, Reza K., Dawson, Lorna A., Yates, Kyari, Prabhu, Radhakrishna, Hillier, Stephen, Devalla, Sandhya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 20.07.2022
• Subjects: agricultural soils; Carbon; Clay; Electromagnetic; environment; fauna; Fibres; flora; HGMS; loamy sand soils; Magnetic Phenomena; magnetic separation; magnetism; Microplastics; Plastics; Polyethylene; polyethylene terephthalates; polytetrafluoroethylene; Rapid extraction; Sand; sandy loam soils; Soil; Fibres; Soil; Electromagnetic; Rapid extraction; Microplastics; HGMS

Microplastics (MPs) are present in all environments, and concerns over their possible detrimental effects on flora and fauna have arisen. Density separation (DS) is commonly used to separate MPs from soils to allow MP quantification; however, it frequently fails to extract high-density MPs sufficien...