Assessment of microplastic pollution and polymer risk in the sediment compartment of the Limfjord, Denmark

Estuarine sediments intercept and temporarily retain microplastics before they reach the marine seafloor, impacting various organisms, including key commercial species. This highlights the critical need for research on microplastic exposure in these transitional environments. This study provides a detailed assessment of microplastic pollution in the sediment compartment of the Limfjord, a 1500 km² large Danish fjord, and introduces the Polymer Hazard Index (PHI) as a tool for evaluating polymer-specific risks. Thirteen sediment samples were collected, covering an anthropogenic gradient along the fjord. State-of-the-art methods were applied for extracting and identifying (FPA-μFT-IR imaging) microplastics (10–5000 μm). Our results indicate that microplastic contamination is pervasive across all sampled locations with concentrations ranging from 273 to 4288 particles kg⁻¹, with a predominance of small microplastics (<100 μm). The estimated mass-based concentrations ranged between 2.60 × 10⁴–1.11 × 10⁶ ng kg⁻¹. Overall, we estimated a microplastic stock of 3.8 × 10³–1.65 × 10⁵ kg in the surface sediments of the Limfjord, i.e., some 2.5–110 kg km⁻². The application of the PHI revealed significant risks associated with specific polymers, such as polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), underscoring the importance of considering polymer-specific hazards in environmental assessments.