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A review of methods for measuring microplastics in aquatic environments

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Abstract

An increasing number of reports have been published concerning microplastic (MP) pollution in aquatic environments. Methods used in these studies continue to be updated and lack standardization, so that an up-to-date review pertaining methods for MP research is needed. This critical review examines the analytical methods, including sampling, identification, and quantitation, for MP research. Samples are generally collected from water, sediment, and biota gastrointestinal tract. Manta nets or trawls are prevalently used in surface water sampling, while direct shoveling or box-corer grab are commonly applied in sediment sampling. Microplastics in biota are generally obtained by dissecting organisms and separating livers, gills, and guts. Density separation is frequently chosen to separate MPs from sample matrices. Chemical digestion can dissolve other organic materials and isolate MPs for further identification. Visual sorting should be combined with chemical composition analysis to better identify the polymer type. Pyrolysis or thermal decomposition gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy are currently the main technologies for MP identification. Units prevalently used to express MP abundance in water, sediment, and biota are “particles per m3,” “particles per m2,” and “particles per individual,” respectively. As MP abundances often varied with the methods used, we recommend that analytical protocols of MPs should better be standardized and optimized. Despite the important progress in analysis of MPs, detection technologies for identifying nano-sized plastic particles are still lacking, and therefore should be developed swiftly.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank W. Tyler Mehler for assistance with editing the manuscript.

Funding

The present study was financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Nos. 2016YFC1402200 and 2017ZX07301005), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Canada Research Chairs Program.

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  1. School of Environment and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China

    Lei Mai, Lian-Jun Bao, Lei Shi, Charles S. Wong & Eddy Y. Zeng

  2. Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences and Department of Chemistry, The University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3B 2E9, Canada

    Charles S. Wong

Authors
  1. Lei Mai
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  2. Lian-Jun Bao
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  3. Lei Shi
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  4. Charles S. Wong
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  5. Eddy Y. Zeng
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eddy Y. Zeng.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Mai, L., Bao, LJ., Shi, L. et al. A review of methods for measuring microplastics in aquatic environments. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 11319–11332 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1692-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1692-0

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