Preliminary Study of Reduction of Microplastics Contained in Salt Produced in Padang, Indonesia

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Andalas University, P.O.Box 25163, Padang, Indonesia

2 Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, Syedza Saintika College of Health Sciences, P.O.Box 25132, Padang, Indonesia

3 Department of Fisheries Resources Utilization, Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences, Bung Hatta University, P.O. Box 25133, Padang, Indonesia

Abstract

Salt produced from seawater evaporation contains harmful microplastics (MP). For this reason, a technology that can remove MP from seawater using coagulation and filtration techniques is needed. The purpose of this study is to utilize alum as a coagulant and sand as a filtration media to reduce MP pollution in seawater as a source of raw material for salt making. Seawater from Buo Bay, Padang City, Indonesia was taken as raw material for salt production. The MP abundance of salt made from seawater without alum and sand treatment was found to be 400 particles/kg. To reduce the abundance of MP in the salt, we varied the alum concentration (0.1; 0.3; and 0.5 g/L) and sand particle size (≥2, ≥1-<2, and <1 mm). From the results obtained, the optimal condition is an alum concentration of 0.5 g/L and sand particle size is <1 mm. The optimal condition of salt made from seawater in treatment H obtained MP abundance from 400 particles/kg to 30 particles/kg with an MP reduction efficiency of 92.5%. Visual analysis using optical trinocular microscopy found 4 forms of MP, namely: fragments (51.13%), fibers (28.95%), films (15.41%), and pellets (4.05%). Rewith the most dominant MP size found was >100-300 µm. The results of ATR-FTIR analysis identified the types of MP as Polyethylene (14.28%), Polyethylene Terephthalate (42.85%), Polypropylene (14.28%), and Polyamide (28.57%).

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