SinS - Abstract

Abstract Information :

Ocean pollution by plastics has become one of the most serious environmental issues. Microplastics may affect marine life by accumulating in the food chain and have a possible impact on human health. Therefore, analysis of microplastics in the environment is of interest. In this study, a vertical furnace pyrolyzer coupled to GC/MS was applied to microplastics analysis, since it provides high-sensitivity analysis and quantitative data even when the sample is a mixture of multiple polymers. The analytical workflow and instrumental setup are described. A dedicated software using a new search algorithm and mass spectral libraries was applied to identify and quantify micro plastics. Software features and step-by-step workflow is demonstrated. The libraries contain 11 and 12 abundant plastic types. For easy weighing of µg scale of polymers and to consider polymer-polymer side reactions, a Micro Plastic Calibration Standard Mixture was used. A dedicated micro plastic GC column setup , containing a Precolumn and analytical separation column is improving chromatographic resolution. A newly developed multifunctional sampler for splitless pyrolysis without secondary reactions is used to increase S/N ratio, thus improving limit of quantification of trace level micro/nano plastics. 3 environmental samples have been analysed for micro plastic quantification: Marine surface water, offshore and coastal sediment samples. After data analysis using the micro plastic search software, various plastic types could be detected and quantified.