Approach to the microplastics analysis

Microplastics represent a serious environmental problem that will engage us in the coming years. The analysis of these microparticles involves characterizing them according to two aspects: shape and mass. The analysis by shape is essential to understand the size of the particles and consequently their diffusion while, the analysis by mass, allows to quantify their weight with respect to the liter of water, kg of sediment or the sampled biota. Thank to pyrolysis-GCMS polymers with excellent sensitivity levels (LOD in µg or ng) can be identified and quantified while with the Agilent system LDIR both the polymer and the shape of the particles up to 2 µg in size can be identified.