merged

The Study of Microplastics Presence in Drinking Water
Muhammad Aliff bin Ali
Supervisor: Dr. Tuan Nurul Sabiqah binti Tuan Anuar
Co-Supervisor: Dr. Yusof Shuaib bin Ibrahim
Bachelor of Science (Analytical and Environmental Chemistry)
School of Marine and Environmental Science
This is the first study to investigate the presence of microplastics in sources of drinking
water. The microplastics have diameter about less than 5 mm. In this study, 6 different
type of sources of drinking water such as tap water, local mineral water, reverse
osmosis (RO) drinking water, oversea mineral water, purified drinking water and river
water were done by density separation with 5M of sodium chloride (NaCl) and then
visually identified based on their physical characteristics such as colour, shape and
size. Only tap water, RO drinking water and river water were detectable has
microplastics. Most of the microplastics present were thread-like shape. Fourier
Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis of microplastics showed the presence of peaks at
ʋ=2904 cm -1 (C-H str), ʋ=1668 cm -1 (C=O str), and ʋ=1525 cm -1 (N-H bend) are
related with polyamide for tap water. Meanwhile, for RO drinking water peaks showed
at ʋ=2918 cm -1 (C-H str), ʋ=1679 cm -1 (C=O str), and ʋ=1517 cm -1 (N-H bend) are
also related with polyamide. Lastly, peaks related to the polyvinyl alcohol are presence
at ʋ= 3342 – 3372 cm -1 (O-H str), ʋ= 2848 - 3000 cm -1 (C-H2-C-H3) and ʋ=1724 cm-
1 (C=O str) for river water.
1932 | UMT UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH DAY 2018