Thermal Analytical Approaches to Address Natural and Accelerated Attenuation of Organic- and Plastic-Based Waste in the Terrestrial Environment
Abstract
The production, use, and disposal of manmade chemicals and materials create complex environmental challenges for society. Whether microplastics or other legacy and emerging pollutants are in question, the inventory of human derived chemicals reaching the natural world is expanding, as are their impacts and effects. The objective of this proposal is to obtain a pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry system (Py-GCMS). The thermal analytical approach is relatively new and effective for characterizing and quantifying polymers in complex heterogenous samples. In support of basic research related to the natural and accelerated attenuation of organic based waste in the terrestrial environment, the system will enable studies of plastic decomposition at the molecular and microscale and help determine if there is competitive mineralization among microbes and/or between plastics and naturally occurring soil organic matter. Beyond these primary research directions, the system is envisioned to help characterize mixed-phase samples (i.e., feedstocks and depolymerized intermediates or products) resulting from emerging waste valorization and recycling process streams at the laboratory bench and greater scale. The instrumentation will be installed in a core user facility at The City University of New York, Advanced Science Research Center and available to researchers inside and outside the university. Importantly, the device will facilitate connections that greatly enhance ongoing education and stimulate new cross-cutting lines of scientific questions among increasingly related disciplinary fields required for solving the plastic pollution crisis: geochemistry, analytical chemistry, polymer/green chemistry, and environmental engineering.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 23, 2023
- Source ID
- W911NF2310372
Entities
People
- Brian Giebel
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Research Foundation of The City University of New York
- United States Army