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oa Quantification of Microplastics in Residues Issued of Biomass using Thermal Ramped Rock-Eval Analysis
- Publisher: European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers
- Source: Conference Proceedings, IMOG 2025, Sep 2025, Volume 2025, p.1 - 2
Abstract
Addressing urban waste composting and plastic contamination is crucial for environmental sustainability. Controlled composting enhances soil enrichment and carbon sequestration but faces challenges with plastic contamination, that introduces microplastics (MPs) into soils. This study introduces for the first time a Rock-Eval® analysis method to quantify MPs in composts without pre-treatment (no separation or solvent extractions as required by other analytical techniques), using only a few milligrams of organic amendments. Our Rock-Eval (RE) approach quantifies MPs through a reference database and deconvolution of the RE pyrolysis profile, or through a relationship between the R parameter, the RE carbon stability parameter, and the IROC (a standard agronomic descriptor). This RE quantification was applied to urban composts from industrial platforms resulting from the transformation of waste from different sources (biowaste, green waste and sludge and municipal solid waste) spread on soils from 1997 to date. This method helps to assess the impact of MPs on carbon in the soils amended with urban composts, highlighting the ongoing challenge of plastic pollution in environmental management.
