Plastics Induced Ocean Pollution - Polymers in a Marine Environment - page 13

%T %T

4000 3000 2000

Wavenumber [cm -1 ]

1000 400 4000 3000 2000

Wavenumber [cm -1 ]

1000 400

a) b)

99

100

1 12

20 21

80

13

17 22

16

14

95

3

9
1 11

2 15

60

18 19

22

%T

%T

29

23

21 25

24

41

26 27

39

8

5 6

40

16

19 20

13

1 15

11

17 46

90

30

3 12

20

8 40

4 44 45

4

38

2 10

9 7

42

1

6

4

31 32
3334 35 36

18 37

0 87

28

1000

5

4000 3000 2000

Wavenumber [cm -1 ]

400 4000 3000 2000

Wavenumber [cm -1 ]

1000 400

c) d)

Figure 1.3 FTIR of a) carrier bag collected at the beach (the methylene stretches
at 2,932 and 2,850 cm -1 and the methylene deformations at 1,464 and 719 cm -1
are characteristic of PE); b) tea cup collected at the beach (peaks at 2,980 and
2,819 cm -1 are methylene stretches, peaks at 1,456 and 1,370 cm -1 are because of
aromatic ring bending frequencies and peaks at 3,192 and 3,082 cm -1 are because
of aromatic C−H stretching and these indicate that the teacup is PS); c) biscuit
wrapper (bands at 2,952, 1,726, 1,461, 1,406, 1,350 and 1,097 cm −1 are assigned
to polyester blend. The bands at 1,726 and 1,097 cm −1 are attributed to C=O and
C-O stretching vibrations, respectively, and the remaining bands are assigned to
C-C and C-H vibrations. So the two former bands indicate the presence of ester
groups and the two latter bands indicate the presence of an ethylene group, thus,
this could be a blend of LDPE and polyester); and d) cushion foam (peaks at
3,625 and 1,738 cm -1 indicate N-H stretching and the carbonyl of an amide bond,
respectively, and the band at 1,004 cm -1 is attributed to C-O stretching. These
results suggest that the foam is PU