Microplastics Analysis for Surface Freshwater Systems: Improving Accuracy and Throughput for Industry Adoption

地表淡水系统的微塑料分析：提高行业采用的准确性和吞吐量

• 批准号: 571137-2021
• 负责人: Bajic, JelenaJ
• 金额: $ 1.97万
• 依托单位: Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 3
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=755235
• 关键词: Microplastics; Analysis; Surface; Freshwater; Systems

The rapid growth and widespread use of plastics materials in modern societies, combined with inadequate recycling practices, has resulted in the accumulation of small plastic fragments in the environment known as microplastics. The knowledge of microplastics occurrence in freshwater systems in Canada is presently very limited, especially in western Canada. The project aims to establish a correlation between microplastics occurrence and: 1) freshwater quality parameters, and 2) urban and industrial inputs along the North Saskatchewan River (NSR) within the Edmonton Municipal Region. The data generated from this work will help establish a baseline of microplastics occurrence in the region and will directly measure the impact of our industry partners, Dow Chemical Canada and Inter Pipeline, who operate major plastics manufacturing facilities discharging into the NSR. A key deliverable of this project is the development, optimization and validation of methods suitable for rapid adoption by industry related to the collection of surface water; the isolation of microplastics from these samples; and their analysis using a high-throughput technique. This project aligns with Canada's Plastics Science Agenda and will provide unbiased, evidence-based information about the presence and typology of microplastics in freshwater systems. The results from this work will directly benefit the industry partners through data describing their environmental impact, the environmental consultancy community through access to knowledge about accurate and high-throughput methods for microplastics sample collection and analysis, and all levels of Government and the public who will be able to access useful data for public health policy development.

现代社会中塑料材料的快速增长和广泛使用，加上回收实践不足，导致了环境中小塑料碎片的积累，即微塑料。目前对加拿大淡水系统中微塑料发生情况的了解非常有限，特别是在加拿大西部。该项目旨在建立微塑料发生与以下因素之间的相关性：1) 淡水质量参数，2) 埃德蒙顿市辖区北萨斯喀彻温河 (NSR) 沿岸的城市和工业投入。这项工作生成的数据将有助于建立该地区微塑料发生的基线，并将直接衡量我们的行业合作伙伴陶氏化学加拿大公司和 Inter Pipeline 的影响，这些合作伙伴运营着向北方航道排放的主要塑料制造设施。该项目的一个关键成果是开发、优化和验证适合于地表水收集相关行业快速采用的方法；从这些样品中分离微塑料；并使用高通量技术进行分析。该项目符合加拿大塑料科学议程，并将提供有关淡水系统中微塑料的存在和类型的公正、基于证据的信息。这项工作的结果将通过描述其环境影响的数据直接使行业合作伙伴受益，环境咨询界将通过获取有关微塑料样本收集和分析的准确和高通量方法的知识而直接受益，而各级政府和公众将受益能够获取对公共卫生政策制定有用的数据。