A critical assessment of visual identification of marine microplastic using Raman spectroscopy for analysis improvement

Lenz, Robin; Enders, Kristina; Stedmon, Colin A.; Mackenzie, David; Nielsen, Torkel Gissel

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.09.026

Cited by 674 publications

(392 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…The black, opaque fragments with rubber-like consistency (Fig. 5e) may originate from vehicle tires as suggested by Lenz et al (2015). The natural wear down process of tires during driving may contribute small particles such as those seen in our study.…”

Section: Potential Sourcessupporting

confidence: 65%

“…The black opaque rubbery particles could not be identified using Raman spectroscopy due to their tendency to combust even at very lower laser power. This problem was also noted by Lenz et al (2015); however, their analyses provided identification of similarly described particles as black tire rubber. Yellow, translucent, rigid fragments were commonly identified as PU.…”

Section: Polymer Compositionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…With decreasing particle size, the ability to identify a particle as plastic becomes reduced due to fewer visual and textural clues as discussed by Lenz et al (2015) and Song et al (2015). Even though particles at the lower end of the size limit defined by the filter or sieve can be magnified sufficiently, lower observation limits are constrained by the ability to distinguish synthetic particles from other particles using color (bright, non-natural colors are easier to detect), presence of shiny lustre (often associated with plastics) and other visual and textural cues.…”

Section: Microplastic Quantificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sources and sinks of microplastics in Canadian Lake Ontario nearshore, tributary and beach sediments

Ballent

Corcoran

Madden

et al. 2016

Marine Pollution Bulletin

568

230

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Microplastics contamination of Lake Ontario sediments is investigated with the aim of identifying distribution patterns and hotspots in nearshore, tributary and beach depositional environments. Microplastics are concentrated in nearshore sediments in the vicinity of urban and industrial regions. In Humber Bay and Toronto Harbour microplastic concentrations were consistently >500 particles per kg dry sediment. Maximum concentrations of ~28,000 particles per kg dry sediment were determined in Etobicoke Creek. The microplastic particles were primarily fibres and fragments < 2 mm in size. Both low-and high-density plastics were identified using Raman spectroscopy. We provide a baseline for future monitoring and discuss potential sources of microplastics in terms of how and where to implement preventative measures to reduce the contaminant influx. Although the impacts of microplastics contamination on ecosystem health and functioning is uncertain, understanding, monitoring and preventing further microplastics contamination in Lake Ontario and the other Great Lakes is crucial . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 Ballent, Anika Manuscript page 1Sources and sinks of microplastics in Canadian Lake Ontario nearshore, tributary and beach sediments. AbstractMicroplastics contamination of Lake Ontario sediments is investigated with the aim of identifying distribution patterns and hotspots in nearshore, tributary and beach depositional environments. Microplastics are concentrated in nearshore sediments in the vicinity of urban and industrial regions. In Humber Bay and Toronto Harbour microplastic concentrations were consistently >500 particles per kg dry sediment. Maximum concentrations of ~28,000 particles per kg dry sediment were determined in Etobicoke Creek. The microplastic particles were primarily fibres and fragments < 2 mm in size. Both low-and high-density plastics were identified using Raman spectroscopy. We provide a baseline for future monitoring and discuss potential sources of microplastics in terms of how and where to implement preventative measures to reduce the contaminant influx. Although the impacts of microplastics contamination on ecosystem health and functioning is uncertain, understanding, monitoring and preventing further microplastics contamination in Lake Ontario and the other Great Lakes is crucial.

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Section: Potential Sourcessupporting

confidence: 65%

Section: Polymer Compositionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Microplastic Quantificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Sources and sinks of microplastics in Canadian Lake Ontario nearshore, tributary and beach sediments

Ballent

Corcoran

Madden

et al. 2016

Marine Pollution Bulletin

568

230

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…These variations of intensity are mainly due to the location of the impact point of the laser on the surface of the analysed polymer despite a focus adjustment before each acquisition. The heterogeneity of the particle in terms of morphology, roughness or orientation and the move of particles before and after chemical treatments conduct to intensity fluctuations (Lenz et al, 2015). It is however not excluded that these modifications of intensity could also be due to polymer molecular alteration after the chemical treatments (Collard et al, 2015).…”

Section: Plastic Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics in seafood: Benchmark protocol for their extraction and characterization

Dehaut

Cassone

Frère

et al. 2016

Environmental Pollution

740

352

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Pollution of the oceans by microplastics (<5 mm) represents a major environmental problem. To date, a limited number of studies have investigated the level of contamination of marine organisms collected in situ. For extraction and characterization of microplastics in biological samples, the crucial step is the identification of solvent(s) or chemical(s) that efficiently dissolve organic matter without degrading plastic polymers for their identification in a time and cost effective way. Most published papers, as well as OSPAR recommendations for the development of a common monitoring protocol for plastic particles in fish and shellfish at the European level, use protocols containing nitric acid to digest the biological tissues, despite reports of polyamide degradation with this chemical. In the present study, six existing approaches were tested and their effects were compared on up to 15 different plastic polymers, as well as their efficiency in digesting biological matrices. Plastic integrity was evaluated through microscopic inspection, weighing, pyrolysis coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, and Raman spectrometry before and after digestion. Tissues from mussels, crabs and fish were digested before being filtered on glass fibre filters. Digestion efficiency was evaluated through microscopical inspection of the filters and determination of the relative removal of organic matter content after digestion. Five out of the six tested protocols led to significant degradation of plastic particles and/or insufficient tissue digestion. The protocol using a KOH 10% solution and incubation at 60 °C during a 24 h period led to an efficient digestion of biological tissues with no significant degradation on all tested polymers, except for cellulose acetate. This protocol appeared to be the best compromise for extraction and later identification of microplastics in biological samples and should be implemented in further monitoring studies to ensure relevance and comparison of environmental and seafood product quality studies.

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“…The instrument was pre-calibrated with a silicon wafer (Murray and Cowie, 2011), and spectra recorded under a 200 µm scan stage with 532 nm excitation lengths. Raman spectrometry served to confirm that all plastics collected were in fact synthetic polymers (Allen et al, 1999), since visual analysis alone might be prone to human errors and accuracy of results otherwise questionable (Hidalgo-Ruz et al, 2012; Lenz et al, 2015).…”

Section: Data Recordingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plastic Pollution Patterns in Offshore, Nearshore and Estuarine Waters: A Case Study from Perth, Western Australia

Hajbane

Pattiaratchi

2017

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Plastic pollution in marine surface waters is prone to high spatial and temporal variability. As a result increases in pollution over time are hard to detect. Selecting areas, based on variable oceanographic and climatological drivers, rather than distance-based approaches, is proposed as a means to better understand the dynamics of this confounding variability in coastal environments. A pilot study conducted in Perth metropolitan waters aimed to explore the applicability of this approach, whilst quantifying levels of plastic pollution in an understudied part of the world. Pollution ranged from 950 to 60,000 pieces km −2 and was dominated by fishing line. Offshore concentrations were highest with strongest Leeuwin Current flow, in the estuary immediately after rainfall, and increased in the nearshore after estuarine outfall. Results elucidated significant relationships between physical drivers and concentration changes and therefore their roles in increasing or decreasing local plastic pollution. Such observations can form the basis for predicting peak pollution periods and inform targeted mitigation.

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A critical assessment of visual identification of marine microplastic using Raman spectroscopy for analysis improvement

Cited by 674 publications

References 42 publications

Sources and sinks of microplastics in Canadian Lake Ontario nearshore, tributary and beach sediments

Sources and sinks of microplastics in Canadian Lake Ontario nearshore, tributary and beach sediments

Microplastics in seafood: Benchmark protocol for their extraction and characterization

Plastic Pollution Patterns in Offshore, Nearshore and Estuarine Waters: A Case Study from Perth, Western Australia

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