The presence of micro and nano plastics in the environment is one of the most insidious aspects of plastic pollution, the scientifical investigation of this environmental problem has started recently and there isn’t a consolidated scientific literature about this important issue. The concern of the scientific community and public opinion on these new pollutants grows by the discovery of microplastics in the human body and in food. The concern about microplastics is slowly leading the United States of America, the European Union and various other countries to act on the problem. These actions against microplastics pollution are currently concerning limitation of plastics release into the environment and a ban on microplastic additives in personal care products. The concern of microplastics could lead to imposition of legal limits on microplastics contamination of foods and workplaces, so we need a method for microplastics analysis that quantifies the microplastic contamination. The purpose of this thesis is to increase the knowledge of microplastic contamination using of a series of methods for the microplastics analysis in environments and products. This thesis focuses on microplastics analysis in table salt, an ingredient widely used in foods. There are few scientifical articles about microplastics in table salt despite it mostly comes from the evaporation of sea water where there is an important presence of microplastics. The worker’s exposure to microplastic dusts, on which there are still few studies, is another source of microplastics intake that is analyzed by this thesis. The last part of this thesis is about the human body exposure by microplastics. It concerns the development of an analysis method for phthalic acid esters, who are plastic additives, in urine because the concentration of phthalic acid esters in urine is related to human body exposure by microplastics. The analysis of microplastics in table salt has happened with the dissolution of the table salt samples in water, followed by the filtration of the saline solutions, in the end the filters are observed with an optical microscope and certain fibers on the filter are analyzed with the Raman spectroscopy. The other method used for the table salt analysis has required a more complex pretreatment o the sample followed by an imaging analysis micro-FT-IR and an imaging micro-Raman. The microplastics in the workplaces dust are sampled with a filter linked with an air pump, then the filters are observed with an optical microscope and certain fibers on the filter are analyzed with the Raman spectroscopy. The development of the method for phthalic acid esters analysis has brought to a solid phase extraction (SPE) of the analytes from the urine simulating solution followed by an analysis with gas chromatography (GC-FID). The results of this three-years work shows that the analysis of microplastics is complex for the great diversity of the various kind of microplastics, by dimensions and chemical properties. For this reason, the method for analyze the microplastics should use various kind of scientifical instruments, whose results are complementary to determinate the true degree of microplastics contamination.
Uno degli aspetti più insidiosi dell’inquinamento causato dalla plastica è dovuto alla presenza di micro e nano plastiche nell’ambiente, si tratta di un problema che è stato investigato solo di recente e sul quale non vi è ancora una letteratura scientifica consolidata. L’attenzione della comunità scientifica e dell’opinione pubblica è in crescita su questi nuovi inquinanti a seguito della scoperta di microplastiche nell’ organismo umano e negli alimenti, ciò sta lentamente portando i legislatori di vari paesi e dell’Unione Europea ad intervenire sul problema. Questo intervento sta riguardando attualmente la limitazione dell’immissione di plastiche e microplastiche nell’ambiente, ma in futuro potrebbe concretizzarsi ad esempio nell’imposizione di limiti di legge alla contaminazione di microplastiche degli alimenti e nei luoghi di lavoro, di conseguenza vi è la necessità di disporre di un metodo di analisi delle microplastiche per poter valutare l’ampiezza del problema. Lo scopo di questa tesi è di approfondire la conoscenza della contaminazione da microplastiche tramite lo studio, la valutazione e l’impiego di una serie di metodi per l’analisi delle microplastiche in diverse matrici. Questa tesi si concentra sull'analisi delle microplastiche nel sale, un ingrediente presente nella stragrande maggioranza degli alimenti, sul quale vi sono pochi studi, nonostante provenga in gran parte dall'evaporazione dell'acqua di mare dove è nota da tempo la presenza di importanti concentrazioni di microplastiche. Un'altra fonte di assunzione delle microplastiche analizzata da questo studio è l'esposizione professionale alle polveri di microplastiche, sulla quale non vi sono ancora importanti studi; infine è stato studiato un protocollo per l'analisi dei traccianti organici delle microplastiche nei liquidi biologici, nello specifico gli esteri dell'acido ftalico, la cui presenza nelle urine è correlata all'esposizione dell'organismo alle microplastiche. Questo dottorato di ricerca ha compreso delle attività che sono state svolte presso il dipartimento di ingegneria dell'Università di Aalborg, Danimarca, grazie alla collaborazione con il prof. Vollertsen tramite un progetto di mobilità congiunta coordinato dalla prof.ssa Buiarelli; altre attività sono state svolte presso il dipartimento di agricoltura, ambiente ed alimenti dell’Università degli Studi del Molise grazie alla collaborazione del prof. Avino.
Ricerca e caratterizzazione di micro e nano plastiche in alimenti, fluidi biologici e ambienti lavorativi del settore plastico / Fontanella, LUCA UGO. - (2023 Jan 23).
Ricerca e caratterizzazione di micro e nano plastiche in alimenti, fluidi biologici e ambienti lavorativi del settore plastico
FONTANELLA, LUCA UGO
23/01/2023
Abstract
The presence of micro and nano plastics in the environment is one of the most insidious aspects of plastic pollution, the scientifical investigation of this environmental problem has started recently and there isn’t a consolidated scientific literature about this important issue. The concern of the scientific community and public opinion on these new pollutants grows by the discovery of microplastics in the human body and in food. The concern about microplastics is slowly leading the United States of America, the European Union and various other countries to act on the problem. These actions against microplastics pollution are currently concerning limitation of plastics release into the environment and a ban on microplastic additives in personal care products. The concern of microplastics could lead to imposition of legal limits on microplastics contamination of foods and workplaces, so we need a method for microplastics analysis that quantifies the microplastic contamination. The purpose of this thesis is to increase the knowledge of microplastic contamination using of a series of methods for the microplastics analysis in environments and products. This thesis focuses on microplastics analysis in table salt, an ingredient widely used in foods. There are few scientifical articles about microplastics in table salt despite it mostly comes from the evaporation of sea water where there is an important presence of microplastics. The worker’s exposure to microplastic dusts, on which there are still few studies, is another source of microplastics intake that is analyzed by this thesis. The last part of this thesis is about the human body exposure by microplastics. It concerns the development of an analysis method for phthalic acid esters, who are plastic additives, in urine because the concentration of phthalic acid esters in urine is related to human body exposure by microplastics. The analysis of microplastics in table salt has happened with the dissolution of the table salt samples in water, followed by the filtration of the saline solutions, in the end the filters are observed with an optical microscope and certain fibers on the filter are analyzed with the Raman spectroscopy. The other method used for the table salt analysis has required a more complex pretreatment o the sample followed by an imaging analysis micro-FT-IR and an imaging micro-Raman. The microplastics in the workplaces dust are sampled with a filter linked with an air pump, then the filters are observed with an optical microscope and certain fibers on the filter are analyzed with the Raman spectroscopy. The development of the method for phthalic acid esters analysis has brought to a solid phase extraction (SPE) of the analytes from the urine simulating solution followed by an analysis with gas chromatography (GC-FID). The results of this three-years work shows that the analysis of microplastics is complex for the great diversity of the various kind of microplastics, by dimensions and chemical properties. For this reason, the method for analyze the microplastics should use various kind of scientifical instruments, whose results are complementary to determinate the true degree of microplastics contamination.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
---|---|---|---|
Tesi_dottorato_Fontanella.pdf
accesso aperto
Note: Ricerca e caratterizzazione di micro e nano plastiche in alimenti, fluidi biologici e ambienti lavorativi del settore plastico
Tipologia:
Tesi di dottorato
Licenza:
Creative commons
Dimensione
7.22 MB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
7.22 MB | Adobe PDF |
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.