Evaluation and characterization of microplastics on three sandy beaches of Lima, Peru

Pretell V.; Pinedo L.; Ramos W.; Benites E. · Proceedings of the LACCEI international Multi-conference for Engineering, Education and Technology (2020) · DOI: 10.18687/laccei2020.1.1.71

Resumen

Microplastics are a potential threat to the environment and human health because of their presence at all levels of the trophic chain. In September 2019, the presence of microplastics was evaluated and characterized in three sandy beaches of the province of Lima, the D'Onofrio, Pescadores and Pucusana beaches. These were selected for being tourist, recreational use and for having docks for artisanal fishing; typical situation of most of the Peruvian coast. The sampling was done on a 100 m transect with six equidistant quadrants, each quadrant was 0.5 m by 0.5 m with 5 cm depth, this resulted in six samples per beach, of which the microplastics were separated by sieving and after by difference of density in a saline solution at the laboratory. It was obtained that at D'Onofrio beach there are 394 ± 42.93 items.m-2 (19.11 ± 2.89 g.m-2), at Pescadores beach 173.33 ± 11.62 items.m-2 (5.14 ± 0.71 g.m-2) and in the Pucusana beach 136 ± 32.56 items.m-2 (3.95 ± 1.06 g.m-2). The classification of the microplastics was carried out according to the particle size, in ranges of: less than 850 µm, between 850 µm and 1000 µm, between 1000 µm and 2000 µm and more than 2000 µm. The most abundant fraction were microplastics between 1000 µm and 2000 µm, followed by those with more than 2000 µm. For the FTIR and thermogravimetry characterization, the microplastics were reclassified by color and shape, and the fraction of microplastics between 1000 µm and 2000 µm was taken for the analysis, it was obtained that most of them were High Density Polyethylene (HDPE).

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería; Universidad César Vallejo