title: Microplastics elutriation from sandy sediments: A granulometric approach.
abstract: Although relatively easy to extract in the marine environment, microplastics are very difficult to recover when they are trapped in sediments. The elutriation column is one of the best tools currently available for extracting plastics from sediment, but with a high sand recovery yield. This study aims to address the following questions: (i) is it possible to use a sedimentological approach to limit the sand recovery? (ii) does the extraction velocity of the sand and plastic particles vary according to density and granulometry? (iii) what is the relative recovery efficiency obtained for dense polymer particles mixed with marine sand? Based on a new granulometric classification, different plastic particle-size fractions are defined. Their extraction velocities are experimentally determined on particles of sediment and different plastics (PA, PVC). The particle recovery experiments indicate that it is possible to extract >90% of dense plastic particles in cases of negligible sand recovery.
authors.affiliation: Université Bretagne-Sud, FRE CNRS 3744, IRDL, 56100 Lorient, France.
authors.forename: Mikaël
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kedzierski
authors.affiliation: Université Bretagne-Sud, FRE CNRS 3744, IRDL, 56100 Lorient, France.
authors.forename: Véronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Le Tilly
authors.affiliation: Université Bretagne-Sud, FRE CNRS 3744, IRDL, 56100 Lorient, France; Université de Nantes, CNRS, GEPEA UMR 6144, 44602 Saint-Nazaire, France.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bourseau
authors.affiliation: Université Bretagne-Sud, FRE CNRS 3744, IRDL, 56100 Lorient, France.
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bellegou
authors.affiliation: SERPBIO, Université Bretagne-Sud, 56321 Lorient, France.
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: César
authors.affiliation: Université Bretagne-Sud, FRE CNRS 3744, IRDL, 56100 Lorient, France.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sire
authors.affiliation: Université Bretagne-Sud, FRE CNRS 3744, IRDL, 56100 Lorient, France. Electronic address: stephane.bruzaud@univ-ubs.fr.
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bruzaud
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D010316:Particle Size; D010969:Plastics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D010969:Plastics; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Elutriation; Extraction techniques; Granulometric classification; Microplastics; Sandy sediments