TY - JOUR

T1 - Microplastics Detection in Streaming Tap Water with Raman Spectroscopy

AU - Kniggendorf, Ann Kathrin

AU - Wetzel, Christoph

AU - Roth, Bernhard

N1 - Funding Information: Funding: This research was funded by the German Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF, Federal Ministry of Education and Research) within the collaborative project OPTIMUS (13N13811) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy within the Cluster of Excellence PhoenixD (EXC 2122). The publication of this article was funded by the Open Access Fund of the Leibniz Universität Hannover.

PY - 2019/4/2

Y1 - 2019/4/2

N2 - Microplastic particles have been found in drinking water sources worldwide and, thus, also in our food and beverages. Especially small microplastics, with sizes of 1 mm and less, cannot be identified reliably without spectroscopic means such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) or Raman spectroscopy, usually applied to the particles extracted from the samples. However, for drinking and tap water, with its comparatively low biological loads, direct observation may be possible and allows a point-of-entry monitoring for beverages and food to ensure uncontaminated drinking water is being used. In a proof of concept, we apply Raman spectroscopy to observe individual microplastic particles in tap water with added particulate and fluorescent contaminants streaming with 1 L/h through a custom-made flow cell. We evaluated several tubing materials for compatibility with microplastic suspensions containing three different polymers widely found in microplastic surveys worldwide. The experiment promises the monitoring of streaming tap water and even clear surface waters for microplastics smaller than 0.1 mm.

AB - Microplastic particles have been found in drinking water sources worldwide and, thus, also in our food and beverages. Especially small microplastics, with sizes of 1 mm and less, cannot be identified reliably without spectroscopic means such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) or Raman spectroscopy, usually applied to the particles extracted from the samples. However, for drinking and tap water, with its comparatively low biological loads, direct observation may be possible and allows a point-of-entry monitoring for beverages and food to ensure uncontaminated drinking water is being used. In a proof of concept, we apply Raman spectroscopy to observe individual microplastic particles in tap water with added particulate and fluorescent contaminants streaming with 1 L/h through a custom-made flow cell. We evaluated several tubing materials for compatibility with microplastic suspensions containing three different polymers widely found in microplastic surveys worldwide. The experiment promises the monitoring of streaming tap water and even clear surface waters for microplastics smaller than 0.1 mm.

KW - Microplastics

KW - Raman spectroscopy

KW - Single particle detection

KW - Tap water

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85065056861&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/s19081839

DO - 10.3390/s19081839

M3 - Article

C2 - 31003396

AN - SCOPUS:85065056861

VL - 19

JO - Sensors (Switzerland)

JF - Sensors (Switzerland)

SN - 1424-8220

IS - 8

M1 - 1839

ER -