Overview of the Use of Brine Solutions for the Final Extraction of Microplastics Found in Soil

The study of microplastics in the environment has become a hot area of research due to the growing concern regarding their–still unclear–human health effect(s). Currently, there are active efforts to collect, analyze and quantify microplastics found in water, air, and soil. However, there is still plenty of work to do to standardize the current field and laboratory methodologies. Furthermore, research on the extraction of microplastics from soil is far behind, compared to water and air, due to soils’ intrinsic complexity. In fact, one key step in the extraction of microplastics from soil is a density separation using brine solutions. Unfortunately, there is still a scarce standardization in the selection and reusability of such solutions. Here, we report an update on the current state of research regarding brine, and other solutions, employed to separate microplastics from soil samples for final analysis.