TY - CONF A1 - Braun, Ulrike T1 - General aspects of polymers and and polymers in environment N2 - The presentation addresses first general aspects of polymers and polymers in environment (definitions, types, phases, morphology, density) and than summarise the possibilities of analysis. T2 - 1. meeting of ISO/TC 61/SC 5/AHG "microplastics" CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 12.04.2016 KW - Microplastics KW - Polymers PY - 2016 AN - OPUS4-36758 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Braun, Ulrike T1 - Fast identification of microplastics using thermal extraction methods N2 - The presentation presents an overview about existing methods of microplastic detection with a special focus on thermo-analytical methods. T2 - Perkin Elmer Workshop Microplastics CY - Vienna, Austria DA - 11.01.2018 KW - Microplastics KW - TED-GC-MS KW - Analysis PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-43803 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dümichen, Erik A1 - Eisentraut, Paul A1 - Bannick, Claus Gerhard A1 - Barthel, Anne-Kathrin A1 - Braun, Ulrike A1 - Senz, R. T1 - Fast identification of microplastics in complex environmental samples by a thermal degradation method N2 - n order to determine the relevance of microplastic particles in various environmental media, comprehensive investigations are needed. However, no analytical method exists for fast identification and quantification. At present, optical spectroscopy methods like IR and RAMAN imaging are used. Due to their time consuming procedures and uncertain extrapolation, reliable monitoring is difficult. For analyzing polymers Py-GC-MS is a standard method. However, due to a limited sample amount of about 0.5 mg it is not suited for analysis of complex sample mixtures like environmental samples. Therefore, we developed a new thermoanalytical method as a first step for identifying microplastics in environmental samples. A sample amount of about 20 mg, which assures the homogeneity of the sample, is subjected to complete thermal decomposition. The specific degradation products of the respective polymer are adsorbed on a solid-phase adsorber and subsequently analyzed by thermal desorption gas chromatography mass spectrometry. For certain identification, the specific degradation products for the respective polymer were selected first. Afterwards real environmental samples from the aquatic (three different rivers) and the terrestrial (bio gas plant) systems were screened for microplastics. Mainly polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE) and polystyrene (PS) were identified for the samples from the bio gas plant and PE and PS from the rivers. However, this was only the first step and quantification measurements will follow. KW - Thermal Degradation KW - Microplastic PY - 2017 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2017.02.010 VL - 174 SP - 572 EP - 584 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-42143 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Braun, Ulrike T1 - Microplastics: Degradation properties of polymers in the environment N2 - The accumulation of plastics leaked into the environment achieve a high perception in the last years. It is uncontroversial that often an uncontrolled, high consumption of plastic products and a poor waste management resulted in plastic findings all over in the environment. However, less is known about the relevant pathways and fate of plastic in the environment. Especially plastic fragments smaller 5 mmm, so called microplastics, achieve a high attention, because their amount and risks arising from these fragments are still unknown. The basic mechanisms of plastic or more precise, of different polymer degradation processes are often not considered, resulting in unrealistic statements. For generation of fundamental understanding of this problem we developed in the last years a fast thermoanalytical method for identification and mass quantification of microplastics in complex samples. The presentation will also give a short introduction about polymer degradation. T2 - Environmental Geosciences Seminar CY - Vienna, Austria DA - 19.11.2018 KW - Microplastic KW - Analysis KW - Standardisation PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-47182 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Braun, Ulrike T1 - Principles for the development of standards for investigation procedures of plastics in environmental media and materials N2 - An overview about the current status of microplastic analysis is given with scope on hamonisation and standarisation. T2 - Annual ISO/TC 61 Meeting CY - Saitama, Japan DA - 24.09.2018 KW - Standardisation KW - Microplastic KW - Analysis PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-46457 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Eisentraut, Paul A1 - Dümichen, Erik A1 - Ruhl, A. A1 - Jekel, M. A1 - Albrecht, M. A1 - Gehde, M. A1 - Braun, Ulrike T1 - Two Birds with One Stone-Fast and Simultaneous Analysis of Microplastics: Microparticles Derived from Thermoplastics and Tire Wear N2 - Analysis of microplastic particles (MP) in environmental samples needs sophisticated techniques and is time intensive due to sample preparation and detection. An alternative to the most common (micro ) spectroscopic techniques, FTIR or Raman spectroscopy, are the thermoanalytical methods, where specific decomposition products can be analyzed as marker compounds for different kind of plastics types and mass contents. Thermal extraction desorption gas chromatography mass spectrometry (TED-GC-MS) allows the fast identification and quantification of MP in environmental samples without sample preparation. Whereas up to now only the analysis of thermoplastic polymers was realized, this is the first time that even the analysis of tire wear (TW) content in environmental samples is possible. Various marker compounds for TW were identified. They include characteristic decomposition products of elastomers, antioxidants and vulcanization agents. Advantages and drawbacks of these marker substances were evaluated. Environmental samples from street run off were exemplarily investigated and presented. KW - TED-GC-MS KW - Microplastic KW - Tire wear PY - 2018 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.8b00446 VL - 5 IS - 10 SP - 608 EP - 613 PB - American Chemical Society AN - OPUS4-46460 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Braun, Ulrike T1 - Determination of tire wear particles based on elemental composition N2 - In this presentation the use of ICP-MS for the analysis of tire wear particles in environmental samples is presented. T2 - Wassertagung der GdCh CY - Papenburg, Germany DA - 07.05.2018 KW - ICP-MS KW - Mikroplastik KW - Analytik KW - Reifenabrieb PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-45201 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Braun, Ulrike T1 - Identification of tire wear particles based on elemental composition N2 - The identification of tire wear particles by use of ICP-MS is presented. T2 - SETAC CY - Rome, Italy DA - 13.05.2018 KW - Microplastics KW - Tire wear particles KW - ICP-MS PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-45205 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Paul, Andrea A1 - Wander, Lukas A1 - Becker, Roland A1 - Goedecke, Caroline A1 - Braun, Ulrike T1 - High-throughput NIR spectroscopic (NIRS) detection of microplastics in soil N2 - The increasing pollution of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems with plastic debris leads to the accumulation of microscopic plastic particles of still unknown amount. To monitor the degree of contamination analytical methods are urgently needed, which help to quantify microplastics (MP). Currently, time-costly purified materials enriched on filters are investigated both by micro-infrared spectroscopy and/or micro-Raman. Although yielding precise results, these techniques are time consuming, and are restricted to the analysis of a small part of the sample in the order of few micrograms. To overcome these problems, here we tested a macroscopic dimensioned NIR process-spectroscopic method in combination with chemometrics. For calibration, artificial MP/soil mixtures containing defined ratios of polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, and polystyrene with diameters < 125 µm were prepared and measured by a process FT-NIR spectrometer equipped with a fiber optic reflection probe. The resulting spectra were processed by chemometric models including support vector machine regression (SVR), and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). Validation of models by MP mixtures, MP-free soils and real-world samples, e.g. and fermenter residue, suggest a reliable detection and a possible classification of MP at levels above 0.5 to 1.0 mass% depending on the polymer. The benefit of the combined NIRS chemometric approach lies in the rapid assessment whether soil contains MP, without any chemical pre-treatment. The method can be used with larger sample volumes and even allows for an online prediction and thus meets the demand of a high-throughput method. KW - Microplastics KW - Soil KW - Chemometrics KW - PLS-DA KW - Support vector machines KW - Near Infrared Spectroscopy PY - 2018 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2180-2 SN - 1614-7499 SN - 0944-1344 VL - 26 IS - 8 SP - 7364 EP - 7374 PB - Springer AN - OPUS4-45405 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Braun, Ulrike T1 - Sampling, sample preparation and detection of microplastics, current activities in the ISO/TC 61/SC14/WG 4 N2 - Presentation about the actual status of microplastic research in BAM and UBA, activities in Germany and ISO/TC61/SC14. T2 - Microplastic Methodes Workshop CY - London, UK DA - 23.05.2018 KW - Microplastics KW - TED-GC-MS KW - Analysis KW - Standardisation PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-45033 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dittmann, Daniel A1 - Braun, Ulrike A1 - Jekel, M. A1 - Ruhl, A. S. T1 - Quantification and characterisation of activated carbon in activated sludge by thermogravimetric and evolved gas analyses N2 - Advanced wastewater treatment with powdered activated carbon (PAC) leads to a spread of PAC into different purification stages of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) due to recirculation and filter back-wash. Currently, no methods for quantification of PAC in activated sludge are available. In this study, PAC containing activated sludge from four WWTP were examined by two-step thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) with heating up to 600°C in N2 and subsequently in synthetic air. Direct quantification of PAC according to temperature specific weight losses was possible for one WWTP. Quantification by combining specific mass losses was found to be an alternative direct method, with a detection limit of 1.2% PAC in dry sample mass. Additionally, evolved gas analysis (EGA) by infrared-spectroscopy (FTIR) during TGA revealed interaction mechanisms between PAC and activated sludge. Aliphatic compounds from activated sludge were identified as major substances influenced by PAC. In derivative thermogravimetry (DTG), a typical double peak at approximately 300°C was found to be related to carbonylic species with increased evolution of acetic acid in aged activated sludge. TGA and EGA are promising tools to understand, control and optimise the application of PAC in advanced wastewater treatment. KW - Advanced wastewater treatment KW - Powdered activated carbon KW - Sewage treatment plant KW - Thermoanalysis KW - Thermogravimetry KW - Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy PY - 2018 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213343718301313 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2018.03.010 SN - 2213-3437 VL - 6 IS - 2 SP - 2222 EP - 2231 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-44978 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mueller, Axel A1 - Becker, Roland A1 - Dorgerloh, Ute A1 - Simon, Franz-Georg A1 - Braun, Ulrike T1 - The effect of polymer aging on the uptake of fuel aromatics and ethers by microplastics N2 - Microplastics are increasingly entering marine, limnic and terrestrial ecosystems worldwide, where they sorb hydrophobic organic contaminants. Here, the sorption behavior of the fuel-related water contaminants benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene (BTEX) and four tertiary butyl ethers to virgin and via UV radiation aged polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS) pellets was investigated. Changes in material properties due to aging were recorded using appropriate polymer characterization methods, such as differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and microscopy. Pellets were exposed to water containing BTEX and the ethers at 130-190 mg/L for up to two weeks. Aqueous sorbate concentrations were determined by headspace gas chromatography. Sorption to the polymers was correlated with the sorbate's Kow and was significant for BTEX and marginal for the ethers. Due to substantially lower glass transition temperatures, PP showed higher sorption than PS. Aging had no effect on the sorption behavior of PP. PS sorbed less BTEX after aging due to an oxidized surface layer. KW - BTEX KW - Polypropylene KW - Polystyrene KW - Sorption KW - Degradation PY - 2018 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2018.04.127 SN - 0269-7491 VL - 240 SP - 639 EP - 646 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-44990 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -