Uporaba modificirane magnetne mikroplastike v okoljskih študijah

Kambič, Maša (avtor), Kalčikova, Gabriela (mentor)

V vsakdanjem življenju se srečujemo z vse večjo porabo plastike, ki je pogosto neustrezno odvržena v okolje. Ko je plastika izpostavljena okoljskim dejavnikom, razpade na manjše fragmente, imenovane mikroplastika. Velikost delcev mikroplastike in njena razširjenost v vseh vrstah ekosistemov predstavljata tveganja zaradi vpliva na organizme, hkrati pa tudi izziv pri monitoringu delcev. Posledično se v zadnjih letih povečuje število raziskav na tem področju, ki so osredotočene predvsem na proučevanje ekotoksikoloških vplivov, adsorpcijskih lastnosti ter procesov staranja in obnašanja delcev v okolju. V ta namen je treba pripraviti okoljsko relavantno mikroplastiko, ki jo proizvajamo z različnimi metodami fragmentacije ali z načrtovano polimerizacijo. Vedno bolj se za raziskave uporablja modificirana mikroplastika, ki jo na podlagi dodanih lastnosti lažje lociramo, ji sledimo in separiramo iz različnih raziskovanih sistemov in s tem potencialno poenostavimo laboratorijske poskuse. Opravljenih je bilo že nekaj raziskav z mikroplastiko, ki je bila modificirana s kovinami, fluorescentnimi barvili in magnetnimi delci. V tem delu smo raziskovali uporabnost modificirane magnetne mikroplastike. Uporabili smo štiri različne vrste mikroplastike (polietilen, polipropilen, polietilen tereftalat in polivinil klorid), na katere so bili nanešeni nanodelci železovega oksida. S testi strupenosti smo ugotovili, da tako nemodificirani kot tudi magnetno modificirani delci mikroplastike nimajo vpliva na malo vodno lečo Lemna minor. Testiranje izluževanja železa je pokazalo, da so koncentracije izluženega železa v mediju z nevtralnem pH zanemarljive, s čimer je bila potrjena stabilnost modificirane magnetne mikroplastike. V nadaljevanju smo preverili učinkovitost separacije omenjenih delcev iz vode, sedimentov dveh različnih velikosti in iz prsti z dvema različnima vlažnostma. Metoda separacije z magnetom se je izkazala za učinkovito pri ločevanju delcev iz vode in sedimenta (izkoristek nad 90 %), medtem ko je bil izkoristek separacije iz prsti bistveno nižji (okoli 10 %).

• Jezik: Slovenski jezik
• Ključne besede: mikroplastika, okoljske študije, modificirana magnetna mikroplastika, izkoristek separacije
• Vrsta gradiva: Magistrsko delo/naloga
• Tipologija: 2.09 - Magistrsko delo
• Organizacija: FKKT - Fakulteta za kemijo in kemijsko tehnologijo
• Leto izida: 2026
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-178468
• COBISS.SI-ID: 266822915
• Datum objave v RUL: 28.01.2026

Sekundarni jezik

• Jezik: Angleški jezik
• Naslov: The use of magnetically modified microplastics in environmental studies

Izvleček

In everyday life, we are faced with an increasing consumption of plastics, which often end up improperly disposed in the environment. When plastic is exposed to various environmental factors, it degrades into smaller fragments, known as microplastics. The widespread presence of microplastics in all types of ecosystems and the small size of the particles pose risks due to their impact on organisms and pose a challenge in particle monitoring. As a result, the number of studies in this field has also increased, focused on ecotoxicological impacts, adsorption properties, and the processes of aging and behaviour of particles in the environment. For this purpose, it is necessary to prepare environmentally relevant microplastics, which are produced with different fragmentation methods or with controlled polymerisation. Modified microplastics are increasingly being used in research, as their added properties make it easier to locate, track, and separate them from various studied systems, thereby potentially simplifying laboratory experiments. Several studies have already been conducted with microplastics doped with metals, fluorescent dyes, or magnetic particles. In this work, we focused on investigating the effects and potential applications of the latter. We used four different types of microplastics (polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, and polyethylene terephthalate) coated with iron oxide nanoparticles. Toxicity tests showed that both unmodified and magnetically modified microplastics had no impact on Lemna minor (duckweed). Testing of iron leaching demonstrated that concentrations of leached iron in medium with neutral pH were negligible, confirming the stability of magnetic microplastics. We further examined the efficiency of separating these particles from water, sediments of two different grain sizes, and soils with two different moisture levels. Magnetic separation showed to be effective for removing particles from water and sediment (with recovery above 90 %), whereas the recovery of separation from soils was around 10 %.

• Ključne besede: microplastics, environmental studies, magnetically modified microplastics, recovery