Wastewater biosolids are a direct source of microplastics to the terrestrial environment because they are often applied in agricultural settings to increase field and soil nutrients. At present, the research community is struggling to standardized analytical methods for addressing this emerging environmental concern. This research aims to address this lack of standardization by developing a protocol to extract, count, and identify the types of microplastics in biosolids collected from two wastewater treatment locations in a large urban city. Our approach utilizes a density separation and a Fenton digestion as main components to collect microplastics and to allow their analysis with µFTIR spectroscopy. Data analysis was achieved using an iterative comparison and cross-validation of two separate spectral libraries – a commercial library available with the instrumentation and Open Specy, an online and open-source library used more frequently in support of microplastic research
","abstract_html":"<p>Wastewater biosolids are a direct source of microplastics to the terrestrial environment because they are often applied in agricultural settings to increase field and soil nutrients. At present, the research community is struggling to standardized analytical methods for addressing this emerging environmental concern. This research aims to address this lack of standardization by developing a protocol to extract, count, and identify the types of microplastics in biosolids collected from two wastewater treatment locations in a large urban city. Our approach utilizes a density separation and a Fenton digestion as main components to collect microplastics and to allow their analysis with µFTIR spectroscopy. Data analysis was achieved using an iterative comparison and cross-validation of two separate spectral libraries – a commercial library available with the instrumentation and Open Specy, an online and open-source library used more frequently in support of microplastic research</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Velasquez Polania, Nicole L"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (M.S.)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Earth and Atmospheric Sciences","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Brian Giebel","Pengfei Zhang","Steven Kidder"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2025-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:58:07Z","subjects":["MICROPLASTICS","BIOSOLIDS","WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT (WWTP)","FTIR","POLYMERS","Environmental Chemistry"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/1197","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Brian Giebel","Pengfei Zhang","Steven Kidder"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Velasquez Polania, Nicole L"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2027-06-03T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Earth and Atmospheric Sciences"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (M.S.)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["MICROPLASTICS","BIOSOLIDS","WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT (WWTP)","FTIR","POLYMERS","Environmental Chemistry"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/1197"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Wastewater biosolids are a direct source of microplastics to the terrestrial environment because they are often applied in agricultural settings to increase field and soil nutrients. At present, the research community is struggling to standardized analytical methods for addressing this emerging environmental concern. This research aims to address this lack of standardization by developing a protocol to extract, count, and identify the types of microplastics in biosolids collected from two wastewater treatment locations in a large urban city. Our approach utilizes a density separation and a Fenton digestion as main components to collect microplastics and to allow their analysis with µFTIR spectroscopy. Data analysis was achieved using an iterative comparison and cross-validation of two separate spectral libraries – a commercial library available with the instrumentation and Open Specy, an online and open-source library used more frequently in support of microplastic research
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Approaches For Identifying And Characterizing Microplastics In Biosolids Using Density Separation And µFTIR Spectroscopy"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Brian Giebel","Pengfei Zhang","Steven Kidder"],"dc:creator":["Velasquez Polania, Nicole L"],"dc:date.available":["2027-06-03T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Wastewater biosolids are a direct source of microplastics to the terrestrial environment because they are often applied in agricultural settings to increase field and soil nutrients. At present, the research community is struggling to standardized analytical methods for addressing this emerging environmental concern. This research aims to address this lack of standardization by developing a protocol to extract, count, and identify the types of microplastics in biosolids collected from two wastewater treatment locations in a large urban city. Our approach utilizes a density separation and a Fenton digestion as main components to collect microplastics and to allow their analysis with µFTIR spectroscopy. Data analysis was achieved using an iterative comparison and cross-validation of two separate spectral libraries – a commercial library available with the instrumentation and Open Specy, an online and open-source library used more frequently in support of microplastic research
"],"dc:identifier":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/1197"],"dc:subject":["MICROPLASTICS","BIOSOLIDS","WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT (WWTP)","FTIR","POLYMERS","Environmental Chemistry"],"dc:title":["Approaches For Identifying And Characterizing Microplastics In Biosolids Using Density Separation And µFTIR Spectroscopy"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Earth and Atmospheric Sciences"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (M.S.)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:58:07Z"}