Week 3: Getting Started

Top: Shredded plastics in containers.
Bottom: Specimen cups with 20 g of sediment. 

      This semester I am going to be developing a protocol for the extraction of microplastics. I will use a protocol established by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Debris program as a guide by testing its efficiency for collecting microplastics. I am going to use 7 different types of plastics (.5 g each) and place each sample in a specimen container along with 20 grams of sediment and 3Ml of Distilled water. I will then filter the plastics out by using a series of techniques as well as a series of solutions (sodium chloride, potassium Carbonate, and Distilled H2O) to determine the overall extraction percentage of each plastic. I have set up 18 specimen containers with 20 g of sediment and will hopefully finish testing all 30 samples by the end of this month.