Microplastics are defined as solid particles containing polymers, to which additives or other substances may have been added; naturally occurring polymers that are not chemically modified (except by hydrolysis) and (bio)degradable polymers are excluded.
The term microplastic refers to all of the aforementioned materials smaller than 5 millimeters, in all possible particle forms, namely: fragments, fibers/filaments, beads/spheres, film sheets, and pellets.
The analysis of these microparticles involves characterizing them according to two aspects: shape and mass.
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Shape analysis is essential for understanding particle size and, consequently, their diffusion. The Agilent LDIR system can identify both the polymer and the shape of particles down to 2 µg in size.
- Mass analysis allows quantification of particle weight relative to the liter of water, kg of sediment, or biota sampled. Pyrolysis-GC/MS allows identification and quantification of polymers with excellent sensitivity (LOD in µg or ng). The pyrolysis systems developed by Frontier Laboratories comply with the recent Standard Test Method for Identification and Quantification of Microplastics in Waters ASTM D8401-24.
The optimized solution for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of microplastics in environmental samples consists of: Agilent GC/MS and Multi-Shot Pyrolyzer, autosampler, and Frontierlab F-Search MPs software. The automated analysis process provides results in just 30 minutes per sample.