Analysis and characterization of microplastic from personal care products and surface water in Bangi, Selangor

Primary microplastics which include microbeads are added into cosmetics and personal care products as scrubbing agent and mostly used because of their uniformity and effective exfoliating properties. However due to their small size, microplastic cannot be filtered by the water treatment plant and flow into our waterways posing a great threat to the aquatic life. Therefore, this study aims to detect the presence of microplastics in personal care products and surface water. Microplastic from personal care samples were extracted using warm water at 60 ⁰C and then characterized using ATR - FTIR to determine the polymer composition. Based on the spectrum, the extracted microplastics were confirmed as polyethylene with significance peaks at 2800 - 2900 cm-1 (C-H stretching) and medium band at 700 cm-1 which indicates the presence of ethylene networks. The extracted microplastics were also identified as polystyrene with the important peaks appear at 3300 and 1600 cm-1 with additional weak peak at 1400 cm-1 which represent C-H aromatic stretching and C=C aromatic group, respectively. Next, SEM method was used to determine the morphology and size of the microplastics which give sizes ranging from 200-500 µm for each sample. Furthermore, optical microscope was used to determine the color and shape of the microbeads. The results showed that extracted microbeads come from various colors such as white, purple, pink, brown and colorless while the shape observed was spherical, granular, and irregular. Next, insect net and bucket techniques were used in sampling of surface water. The successfully filtered solids were analysed using WPO method and characterize by ATR-FTIR technique. The microplastics found in surface water sample were from various shape including fragment, film, pellet, foam, and tube with the majority come from PE type polymer plastic. Hence, this study proved the presence of microplastic in personal care products that available in Malaysia as well as in surface water

Pengoptimuman penyingkiran sulfamethoxazole melalui kaedah gerak balas permukaan menggunakan reka bentuk komposit berpusatkan muka

Pencemaran disebabkan oleh sisa farmaseutik semakin membimbangkan sejak kebelakangan ini kerana ia memberi kesan buruk terutamanya kepada alam sekitar. Terdapat pelbagai kaedah yang dicadangkan oleh penyelidik untuk menyingkirkan bahan cemar tersebut. Penjerapan menggunakan karbon teraktif merupakan salah satu kaedah yang sering digunakan untuk menyingkirkan sisa farmaseutik dalam air. Untuk memperoleh peratus penyingkiran yang maksimum, pengoptimuman perlu dilakukan. Tujuan kajian ini adalah untuk mengoptimumkan parameter yang mempengaruhi penjerapan sulfamethoxazole (SMX). Pengoptimuman dilakukan melalui kaedah gerak balas permukaan (RSM) dengan reka bentuk berpusatkan muka (FCCCD). Parameter yang dikaji adalah kepekatan asal larutan SMX, dos karbon teraktif dan juga masa interaksi. Daripada analisis RSM, model kuadratik telah dibangunkan dengan nilai pekali penentuan, R2 0.9861. Berdasarkan analisis tersebut, didapati dos karbon teraktif dan masa interaksi adalah paling signifikan dalam mempengaruhi peratus penyingkiran SMX berbanding kepekatan asal larutan SMX. Keadaan optimum parameter adalah kepekatan asal larutan SMX = 6 mg/L, dos karbon teraktif = 30 mg dan masa interaksi = 78.02 minit dengan peratus penyingkiran yang dicapai adalah 99.65%. Secara keseluruhannya, hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa keadaan optimum yang telah dicadangkan oleh RSM boleh digunakan dalam penjerapan SMX. Selain itu, proses penjerapan SMX ialah jerapan kimia dan berlaku secara berbilang lapisan pada permukaan heterogen

Pengoptimuman kaedah dan analisis farmaseutik dalam air kumbahan dan air sungai

Loji rawatan kumbahan (STP) sedia ada khususnya di Malaysia tidak direka untuk menyingkirkan bahan farmaseutik yang tergolong dalam kategori bahan cemar baru muncul. Oleh kerana farmaseutik yang hadir dalam persekitaran akuatik ialah pada kepekatan yang sangat rendah iaitu dalam julat bahagian per bilion dan trilion, satu kaedah pengekstrakan dan analisis yang peka perlu dibangunkan. Dalam kajian ini, kaedah analisis berdasarkan pengekstrakan fasa pepejal (SPE) diikuti dengan kromatografi cecair-spektrometri jisim masa penerbangan (LC-TOF-MS) menggunakan mod pengionan secara semburan elektro positif telah berjaya dibangunkan untuk menentukan kehadiran sepuluh farmaseutik terpilih dalam air kumbahan dan air sungai. Farmaseutik yang dikaji termasuk acetaminophen, theophylline, caffeine, metoprolol, sulfamethoxazole, carbamazepine, prednisolone, ketoprofen, norgestrel dan simvastatin. Kaedah SPE menggunakan langkah pengekstrakan tunggal yang menggunakan isi padu sampel yang rendah sebanyak 100 mL dan pelarut elusi yang minimum telah berjaya dicapai. Peratus perolehan semula untuk kesemua farmaseutik dalam sampel air sungai berada dalam julat 54-99% manakala bagi sampel efluen STP pula berada dalam julat 57-96%. Jangka masa analisis LC-TOF-MS termasuk masa imbangan adalah selama 25 min dengan menggunakan suntikan sampel 20 μL. Prosedur SPE bersama-sama dengan kaedah analisis yang telah dibangunkan menghasilkan had kuantifikasi (LOQ) dalam lingkungan 0.031-0.882 μg/L untuk sampel STP dan 0.030-0.926 μg/L untuk sampel air sungai

Microplastics in cosmetics and personal care products : impacts on aquatic life and rodents with potential alternatives

Microplastics are environmental contaminants of emerging concern that are used in huge quantities in cosmetics and personal care products. As a result, microplastics are continuously released to the environment with serious implications to the ecosystem and human health. A literature search was carried out on Medline, Mendeley, Science Direct and Scopus, gathering relevant articles from 2014-2021. Common types of microplastics used in these products are polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). They are usually incorporated in toothpastes, shower gels, shampoos, creams, eye shadows, deodorants, blush powders, make-up foundations and skin creams as exfoliators, emulsifiers, binding agents, opacifying agents, anti-static agents and film-forming agents. Microplastics can cause stunted growth, infertility and low survival rate in aquatic life and they also have been linked to obesity, infertility, cancer and diabetes in humans. Major companies such as Unilever and L’Oréal have removed microplastics from their products or use the alternatives such as chitin, cellulose based microbeads and bio-based plastics. Information on long term effects of microplastics on humans is still scarce. The suitability of materials replacing microplastics and the effectiveness of campaigns and the implemented regulations are not fully evaluated. These research gaps are useful for other researchers to explore more on this subject

Detection of gliclazide in aqueous samples using liquid chromatography/time-of-flight/mass spectrometry

The big challenge for the detection of pharmaceutical residues in water samples is the type of ionization mode in terms of positive or negative ionization which plays an important role to identify and quantify the analytes using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. An analytical method was applied to analysis of gliclazide (diabetic drug) in surface water and wastewater from sewage treatment plants and hospitals. The proposed analytical method allows simultaneous isolation and concentration procedure using solid phase extraction (Oasis HLB) prior to separation using high-performance liquid chromatography. The detection and confirmation was achieved by applying time-of-flight analyzer. The limits of quantification were as low as 1.4 ng/L (deionized water), 4 ng/L (surface water), 27 ng/L (hospital influent), 10 ng/L (hospital effluent), 6 ng/L (sewage treatment plant effluent) and 21 ng/L (sewage treatment plant influent), respectively. On average, good recoveries of higher than 87% were obtained for gliclazide in the studied samples. The proposed method successfully determined and quantified gliclazide in surface water and wastewater. The results showed that gliclazide is a persistent compound in sewage treatment effluents as well as in the recipient rivers. Gliclazide was detected in all samples and the highest concentration was 130 ng/L in influent of sewage treatment plant