Our 2023 IPC group poster competition winner
The IPCG has sponsored the poster prize at annual Analytix pyrolysis seminar prize since 2018.
This year's prize was awarded to Becky Peel at the seminar held in Boldon on 26 - 27 April. Becky is a PhD student from the Organic Geochemistry Unit in the School of Chemistry at the University of Bristol, looking at plastic pollution in soil and sediment samples using pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.
Poster abstract
"Plastic pollution is a considerable and growing environmental problem. To develop effective mitigation strategies, quantification of the spatial and temporal variability of environmental microplastics across the globe is required. In this project, pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) techniques have been developed and implemented to identify and quantify microplastic distributions in terrestrial soils and sediments.
Indicator moieties for eight common plastics have been selected, and their peak areas have been used to create calibration models for each polymer type. Extraction protocols have also been established and applied to probe microplastic concentrations in soil and sediment samples from Signy Island, Antarctica. The resulting dataset will help further our remediation efforts, with potential policy implications."
Entry to next year's prize is open to everyone who registers to attend the 2024 Analytix pyrolysis seminar. Details will follow here and in newsletters in due course.