Invited Talk: Polymer Characterization of Plastic Debris from the Central Pacific

Identification of ocean debris is one focus area of an emerging Circular Economy program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) that includes a new network of academic centers dedicated to plastics recycling technology and training. This talk will provide a brief overview of NIST’s role and capabilities, and then focus on early work facilitating the development of PCA tools for FT-IR through more explicit identification of samples via high throughput, multi-detection size exclusion chromatography. Results of preliminary investigations of surface degradation and other possible marine exposure effects will also be presented.