Identification of microplastic in effluents of waste water treatment plants using focal plane array-based micro-Fourier-transform infrared imaging

The global presence of microplastic (MP) in aquatic ecosystems has been shown by various studies. However, neither MP concentrations nor their sources or sinks are completely known. Waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) are considered as significant point sources discharging MP to the environment. Th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water research (Oxford) 2017-01, Vol.108, p.365-372
Main Authors: Mintenig, S.M., Int-Veen, I., Löder, M.G.J., Primpke, S., Gerdts, G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arrays
Effluents
Environmental Monitoring
Enzymatic purification
Focal plane
FT-IR spectroscopy
Imaging
Microplastic identification
Pollution
Pollution sources
Polyethylenes
Sewage
Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
Synthetic fibres
Treated waste water
Waste Disposal, Fluid
Waste Water
Wastewater treatment
Water
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Water pollution
Water Purification
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Summary:The global presence of microplastic (MP) in aquatic ecosystems has been shown by various studies. However, neither MP concentrations nor their sources or sinks are completely known. Waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) are considered as significant point sources discharging MP to the environment. This study investigated MP in the effluents of 12 WWTPs in Lower Saxony, Germany. Samples were purified by a plastic-preserving enzymatic-oxidative procedure and subsequent density separation using a zinc chloride solution. For analysis, attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FT-IR) and focal plane array (FPA)-based transmission micro-FT-IR imaging were applied. This allowed the identification of polymers of all MP down to a size of 20 μm. In all effluents MP was found with quantities ranging from 0 to 5 × 101 m−3 MP > 500 μm and 1 × 101 to 9 × 103 m−3 MP 
ISSN:0043-1354
1879-2448
DOI:10.1016/j.watres.2016.11.015