Micro and nanoplastics in the environment: development of mass- quantitative analytical methodologies for the global impact assessment
[eng] Micro- and nanoplastics (MNPLs) are considered contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) due to their demetrial environmental and human health effects already reported in recent bibliography and because of current legislations applied in developed countries are not able to regulate these ones ef...
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| Tipo de recurso: | tesis doctoral |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2024 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de Barcelona |
| Repositorio: | Dipòsit Digital de la UB |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/214672 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/2445/214672 http://hdl.handle.net/10803/691903 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Contaminants emergents en l'aigua Microplàstics Cromatografia de líquids d'alta resolució Espectrometria de masses Piròlisi Emerging contaminants in water Microplastics High performance liquid chromatography Mass spectrometry Pyrolysis |
| Sumario: | [eng] Micro- and nanoplastics (MNPLs) are considered contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) due to their demetrial environmental and human health effects already reported in recent bibliography and because of current legislations applied in developed countries are not able to regulate these ones effectively enough or simply they do not exist in case of main developing countries. Plastic pollution concerns scientific community because of their continuous introduction to the environment and the poor consensus knowledge in regards to the impact at global scale and their potential toxic effects associated to living organisms that it is still in its infancy. Moreover, there is a lack of harmonised quantitative analytical methodologies able to estimate plastic pollution impact in terms of mass concentration. Main current scientifc advances published for these purposes are related on microscopy, spectroscopy or nanometric techniques that are more suitable for a successful particle characterisation (nature, size and shape) and qualitative extrapolations based on plastic particle-counting approaches unsuitable to provide real quantitative measurements. In the present context of climate change, circular economy processes acquire relevant importance and there is a need to understand what micro(nano)plastics are, as well as their different origin sources, its occurrence, fate, behaviour in the environment and the different exposure routes. In this sense, in this doctoral thesis, mass-quantitative analytical methodologies based on liquid and pyrolysis-gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry have been developed and applied to samples collected from different environmental compartments and marine biota in order to assess the plastic pollution by MNPLs abundances trying to give a comprehensive global view. Target and suspect screening approaches were applied to obtain the polymeric and plastic additives composition. Finally, human bioaccessibility through the diet and the oral exposure to MNPLs have been also evaluated by an in-vitro model applied to the mussels extracts previously exposed and drinking and mineral water analysed from a metropolitan supply system and single-use plastic bottles, respectively. Thus, this thesis contributes to enhance the understanding and knowledge about MNPLs pollution, putting especial emphasys in the occurrence, fate and behaviour of these contaminants in atmospheric and aquatic ecosystems from closed populated areas to remote regions, the potential exposure to marine biota, and ultimately, in humans. The analytical methodologies here presented will help to address to the scientific community the current lack of mass-quantitative methods available in order to tackle the plastic pollution through real and more accurate MNPLs-polymers abundances, and finally, to obtain a more comprehensive view about the real impact of these contaminants in the environment and the subsequent potential threats associated to living organisms by the main exposure pathways. |
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