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. 2023 Jan 31;6(1):15.
doi: 10.3390/mps6010015.

A Production and Fractionation Protocol for Polyvinyl Chloride Microplastics

Siebe Lievens  1   2 , Evelynn Vervoort  1 , Giulia Poma  2 , Adrian Covaci  2 , Mik Van Der Borght  1
Affiliations

A Production and Fractionation Protocol for Polyvinyl Chloride Microplastics

Siebe Lievens et al. Methods Protoc. .

Abstract

Concerns about the presence of microplastics in the environment has increased in recent years, prompting more attention from scientists. Thorough exposure studies using artificially produced microplastics containing additives are required to assess their potentially hazardous effects. Therefore, an efficient microplastic production and fractionation protocol was established using a cryogenic grinding and wet-sieving approach. The developed cryogenic grinding method was able to produce (20-40 g/h) polyvinyl chloride (PVC) microplastics having a volume-weighted mean particle size of 391 µm and a span of 2.12. Performing a second grinding cycle on the same particles resulted in microplastics which were smaller (volume-weighted mean size = 219 μm) and had a narrower particle size distribution (span = 1.59). In addition, the microplastics were also fractionated into different particle size ranges using a vibrating wet-sieving tower. The latter technique allowed separating 10 g of PVC microplastics into seven different fractions using six sieves (Ø 200 mm) for 30 min while shaking. By using the developed method, PVC microplastics could easily be made and fractionated into desired particle-size ranges. The proposed protocol could also be adjusted to produce and fractionate microplastics of other plastics.

Keywords: PVC; cryogenic grinding; microplastics; separation; wet sieving.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
General workflow for the microplastic production and fractionation and the determination of their particle-size distribution.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic overview of the fractionation setup.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Particle-size distribution of PVC microplastic batches after performing one and two cryogenic grinding cycles. The particle size distributions are depicted on a (a) linear and (b) logarithmic particle size scale.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Particle size distributions of the initial PVC microplastics batch (one grinding cycle) and its fractions after wet sieving 10 g microplastics for 30 min while shaking.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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