Microplastic Materials for Inhalation Studies: Preparation by Solvent Precipitation and Comprehensive Characterization

Abstract

Assessing the inhalation hazard of microplastics is important but necessitates sufficient quantity of microplastics that are representative and respirable (<4 µm). Common plastics are not typically manufactured in such small sizes. Here, solvent precipitation is used to produce respirable test materials from thermoplastics polyurethane (TPU), polyamide (PA-6), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and low-density polyethylene (LDPE). Complementary methods verified that the desired size range is achieved both in number metrics and in mass metrics. To assess if the test materials are representative of their original plastic, a range of molecular properties, particle properties, and impurities are characterized: chemical composition, molecular weight, crystallinity, molecular mobility, density, surface charge, surface reactivity, particle size in mass and number metrics, particle shape, endotoxin content, and solvent content. The test materials obtained by precipitation are compared to commercial granules as references, and to alternative test materials obtained by other synthesis routes from LDPE, TPU, PET, PA-6, polystyrene (PS), and polyvinylchloride (PVC). Charge and surface reactivity of the precipitated test materials are low. Due to storage in water, microbial contamination needed to be monitored. For PET, PA-6, and TPU, the test materials are considered as representative and fit for purpose, whereas the inherent hydrophobicity of LDPE imposed strong aggregation.