Extraction of micro-plastics from beach sediments using principle of density flotation in SMI unit and microscopic analysis

Abstract

The general objective of this research is to extract microplastics from marine sediment using principle of density floatation using apparatus sediment microplastic isolation (SMI) unit and analysing them in arcada’s laboratory. Also, the thesis will explore more about the sources of microplastics, its adverse effects on aquatic animals and re-view of methods of analysing microplastics in marine environment. During experiment, seven different sand samples were taken for analysis and density separation was done using NaCl salt solution and extracted samples after density sepa-ration was vacuum filtered and further taken for microscopic analysis. Results show that various coloured microplastics and fibres were present in all the sand samples.