Characterization of Microplastics from Otammiri River Imo State, Nigeria

This study characterized microplastics from Otammiri River, Imo state, Nigeria. The study was carried out according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) protocol for surface water trawling for microplastics. The microplastics characterized were at the range of 0.3 mm to 5mm which were resistance to wet oxidation and exhibited flotation in a 5M NaCl. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) examination was used to characterize the microplastics for identification. FTIR results revealed that polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) polystyrene (PS), and polyurethane were the predominant polymers (microplastics) found across Otammiri river.