Sensitive Method for the Detection of Micro Plastics in Environmental Samples

Plastic pollution is increasingly receiving attention from scientific community and policy makers. Recent focus is much towards microplastics- tiny plastic pieces ranging from 5mm down to 1 nm in diameter. These microplastics are filling the seas and working their way in creatures. This means, ocean microplastics are entering our food chain and finally to our bodies. Similarly, there are reports, detecting microplastics in bottled water, canned food and indoor air dust. This is a widespread problem in microplastics research that makes it hard or impossible to compare studies [1]. It is mainly because we don’t have any good method yet to analyze microplastics in different matrices. In this paper, we present a simple method for analyzing microplastics using pyrolysis coupled to Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (Py-GCMS). In the case of bottled water or other natural waters, there are no extraction required. Water sample are filtered with prebaked glass fiber filter and microplastics retained on the filter will be directly analyzed by Py-GCMS. The method suitability is demonstrated by standard addition method with plastic mix at low concentration levels. With the PYGCMS and suitable software, very low detection limits are achieved. The method has shown advantages in minimizing sample preparation steps for complex environmental matrices.