Análise da presença de microplásticos na atmosfera de região periférica da cidade de Londrina

Abstract

The excessive use of plastics, combined with the annual increase in their production, has resulted in a significant generation of waste, which has often been improperly disposed of, leading to plastic pollution in the environment, including microplastic pollution in the atmosphere. Microplastics are small plastic particles, typically less than 5 millimeters in size, that result from the fragmentation of larger plastic products or are manufactured directly in small sizes. Thus, the present Final Course Work aims to evaluate the presence of microplastics in both the fine (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of up to 2.5 μm - PM2.5) and coarse (particulate matter between 2.5 and 10 μm of aerodynamic diameter - PM2.5-10) fractions of inhalable atmospheric particulate matter (PM10) at the Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, Londrina Campus. The focus will be on identifying the presence of microplastics in the collected atmospheric particles, quantifying them, and compiling existing knowledge on the topic of microplastics in the atmosphere. For this research, we utilized the Partisol 2000i-D Dichotomous Sampler in conjunction with Whatman QM-A filters to collect and filter atmospheric components. As the goal is solely to catalog microplastics in the atmosphere, we employed the methodology of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (Marine Debris Program, 2015). As a result, this study, with the analytical techniques that were possible to be used, was not able to state the existence of microplastics in the atmosphere. However, it was found evidence that requires further analysis. This study made it possible to deepen the understanding and expand knowledge about the presence of microplastics in the atmosphere. In addition, the review and results obtained may be useful for future research investigating this same topic.