Exploring the potential of photoluminescence spectroscopy in combination with Nile Red staining for microplastic detection

Konde, Srumika; Ornik, Jan; Prume, Julia; Taiber, Jochen; Koch, Martin

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111475

Cited by 60 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The optimal incubation period varies from 30 to 60 minutes – a longer time does not increase the intensity and led to the gradual aggregation of the unabsorbed dye. Prata et al (2019) and Konde et al (2020) noticed that this time can be reduced to 5−10 minutes. Excitation wavelengths used for NR stained microplastics vary from 365 to 510 nm, although in the strongest fluorescence, polymers showed using green emissions wavelengths (Prata et al, 2019).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Approximately 10% of organic matter remains in samples after the purification step (Hurley et al, 2018) and can lead to an overestimation of the amount of microplastics. Another limitation is that not all Konde et al (2020) synthetic textile fibres stained with NR have fluorescence (Prata et al, 2019). Moreover, several authors noticed that PE and PVC do not present fluorescence under green fluorescent (Prata et al, 2019).…”

Section: Methodology For Microplastics Analysis In Organic Outputmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The organic output from mechanical–biological treatment plants as a source of microplastics: Mini-review on current knowledge, research methodology and future study perspectives

2021

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Plastic pollution is one of the biggest environmental problems facing the world. In recent years, microplastics, polymer particles from 1 µm to 5 mm, have been getting much attention. The presence of microplastics has already been confirmed in aquatic and marine ecosystems, soil, atmosphere, biota, and others. The organic output from mechanical–biological treatment (MBT) plants was added to the list of microplastics sources only recently. However, according to preliminary estimates, it may be the second-largest source of microplastics. This article presents an overview of already published investigations on this microplastics source and explains the supposed pathway of microplastics in the MBT plants. The main waste treatment processes that can affect the amount of microplastics in the organic output have been identified as shredding, sieving and, to a lesser extent, aerobic or anaerobic processing. This mini-review also includes methods used in the scientific literature for microplastics extraction, purification, and identification in organic-rich samples, their advantages and limitations. Particular attention is paid to the methods of identifying the small microplastics, less than 1 mm, since the methods for particles 1−5 mm have been more extensively studied. Furthermore, future research needs are highlighted.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodology For Microplastics Analysis In Organic Outputmentioning

confidence: 99%

The organic output from mechanical–biological treatment plants as a source of microplastics: Mini-review on current knowledge, research methodology and future study perspectives

2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In recent years, staining in solution is an improved method due to stirring and the addition of heating or cooling procedures. Therefore, recent studies tend to stain MPs in solution (Stanton et al, 2019;Konde et al, 2020). This staining method requires MPs to be distributed in a homogeneous solution.…”

Section: Methods For Fluorescence Staining Of Mpsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, a high NR concentration, such as 500 μg/mL, may lead to saturation of spectrometer intensity. An obvious red shift in fluorescence spectra of PVC could interfere with the fluorescence measurement and analysis (Konde et al, 2020). Thus, attention should be paid to avoid using too high a NR concentration for staining.…”

Section: Experimental Parameters 1) Nr Concentrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

What have we known so far for fluorescence staining and quantification of microplastics: A tutorial review

Liu

Shang

Liu

et al. 2021

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

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Understanding the fate and toxicity of microplastics (MPs, < 5 mm plastic particles) is limited by quantification methods. This paper summarizes the methods in use and presents new ones. First, sampling and pretreatment processes of MPs, including sample collection, digestion, density separation, and quality control are reviewed. Then the promising and convenient staining procedures and quantification methods for MPs using fluorescence dyes are reviewed. The factors that influence the staining of MPs, including their physicochemical properties, are summarized to provide an optimal operation procedure. In general, the digestion step is crucial to eliminate natural organic matter (NOM) to avoid interference in quantification. Chloroform was reported to be the most appropriate solvent, and 10–20 μg/mL are recommended as optimal dye concentrations. In addition, a heating and cooling procedure is recommended to maintain the fluorescence intensity of MPs for two months. After staining, a fluorescence microscope is usually used to characterize the morphology, mass, or number of MPs, but compositional analysis cannot be determined with it. These fluorescence staining methods have been implemented to study MP abundance, transport, and toxicity and have been combined with other chemical characterization techniques, such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. More studies are needed to focus on the synthesis of novel dyes to avoid NOM’s interference. They need to be combined with other spectroscopic techniques to characterize plastic composition and to develop image-analysis methods. The stability of stained MPs needs to be improved.

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“…Recently, staining method utilizing fluorescent dyes -Safranine T, fluorescein isophosphate, Nile red was developed based on the thermal expansion and contraction characteristics of the plastic [17]. Konde and coworkers have investigated Nile Red staining in combination with photoluminescence spectroscopy to detect the polymer type and to differentiate plastics from non-plastics [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential for Nile red dye-based analysis of microplastics from oceanic samples

Michelaraki

Joseph

Karnik

et al. 2020

Global Oceans 2020: Singapore – U.S. Gulf Coast

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The Global production of plastics has exceeded over 300 million metric tons. Billions of tons of plastic waste that is generated gets accumulated as plastic debris in soil, sediments, oceans and surface water with no obvious strategy to tackle them. The plastics disposed in the water and land ultimately disintegrate to microplastics, widely accepted as particles <5 mm size. These microplastics are ubiquitous contaminants prevalent in the environment and pose great ecological hazard. Ensuring sustainability of coastal marine areas worldwide and reducing biodiversity loss has long been identified as a global challenge. However, dearth of scientific strategies and standardized protocols for fast and accurate detection of microplastics is a matter of concern and needs immediate attention. Therefore, robust, reliable and high through-put detection method for microplastics in oceanic environment is highly sought after. Quite a few studies have explored the potential of Nile red a solvatochromic dye in detection of microplastics. However, often Nile red alone cannot be used in quantifying microplastic due to false positives generated by staining of organic matter. In this work, we have adopted a method based on costaining of microplastics using Nile red dye and Methylene blue by fluorescence microscopy. We have observed that Nile red overestimated microplastic particles and this study serves as foundation to our future work.

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Exploring the potential of photoluminescence spectroscopy in combination with Nile Red staining for microplastic detection

Cited by 60 publications

References 29 publications

The organic output from mechanical–biological treatment plants as a source of microplastics: Mini-review on current knowledge, research methodology and future study perspectives

The organic output from mechanical–biological treatment plants as a source of microplastics: Mini-review on current knowledge, research methodology and future study perspectives

What have we known so far for fluorescence staining and quantification of microplastics: A tutorial review

Potential for Nile red dye-based analysis of microplastics from oceanic samples

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