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Application and Validation of the First Automatic Pretreatment Unit for Aquatic Microplastics

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Dan Zhang, Changxing Zong, Meng Jiao, Xuri Dong, Xuri Dong, Tiefeng Cui, Tiefeng Cui, Lixin Zhu, Khalida Jabeen Tiefeng Cui, Khalida Jabeen Xuri Dong, Xuri Dong, Nian Wei, Xuri Dong, Khalida Jabeen Tiefeng Cui, Tiefeng Cui, Lixin Zhu, Meng Jiao, Khalida Jabeen, Tiefeng Cui, Khalida Jabeen, Khalida Jabeen, Xuri Dong, Changxing Zong, Daoji Li, Changjun Li, Changxing Zong, Nian Wei, Khalida Jabeen, Lixin Zhu, Khalida Jabeen, Lixin Zhu, Meng Jiao, Jungang Lu, Lixin Zhu, Khalida Jabeen, Meng Jiao, Tiefeng Cui, Tiefeng Cui, Tiefeng Cui, Tiefeng Cui, Daoji Li, Khalida Jabeen Khalida Jabeen Khalida Jabeen Khalida Jabeen Daoji Li, Lixin Zhu, Lixin Zhu, Xuri Dong, Chunhua Jiang, Khalida Jabeen Changjun Li, Khalida Jabeen, Khalida Jabeen, Chunhua Jiang, Lixin Zhu, Lixin Zhu, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Lixin Zhu, Daoji Li, Xiaohui Wang, Nian Wei, Xuri Dong, Khalida Jabeen Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Changxing Zong, Daoji Li, Khalida Jabeen, Changxing Zong, Khalida Jabeen, Lixin Zhu, Daoji Li, Changjun Li, Khalida Jabeen Changxing Zong, Xinyu Bu, Khalida Jabeen Khalida Jabeen Khalida Jabeen Lixin Zhu, Youbao Sun, Changjun Li, Khalida Jabeen Xuri Dong, Changxing Zong, Changxing Zong, Changxing Zong, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Lixin Zhu, Youbao Sun, Khalida Jabeen, Khalida Jabeen, Khalida Jabeen, Khalida Jabeen, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Khalida Jabeen Khalida Jabeen, Changxing Zong, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Changxing Zong, Changxing Zong, Daoji Li, Khalida Jabeen, Juanjuan Wang, Lixin Zhu, Xuri Dong, Daoji Li, Khalida Jabeen Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Xiaohui Wang, Guangpeng Liu, Xuri Dong, Daoji Li, Guangpeng Liu, Xuri Dong, Changxing Zong, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Changxing Zong, Jungang Lu, Khalida Jabeen, Khalida Jabeen Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Jungang Lu, Khalida Jabeen, Khalida Jabeen Tiefeng Cui, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Daoji Li, Danish Ather, Dan Zhang, Tiefeng Cui, Danish Ather, Changxing Zong, Khalida Jabeen, Changjun Li, Khalida Jabeen Dan Zhang, Lixin Zhu, Dan Zhang, Xuri Dong, Changxing Zong, Xiaohui Wang, Xiaohui Wang, Daoji Li, Tiefeng Cui, Tiefeng Cui, Daoji Li, Xinyu Bu, Changjun Li, Daoji Li, Xuri Dong, Daoji Li, Xinyu Bu, Daoji Li, Xinyu Bu, Changxing Zong, Daoji Li, Dan Zhang, Khalida Jabeen

Summary

Researchers validated the first commercially available automated microplastic pretreatment instrument (Shimadzu MAP-100), which achieved 95.6% recovery of aged microplastics from water samples—slightly better than manual methods—while dramatically reducing processing time, labor, and operator variability. Inconsistency between laboratories has long hampered the comparability of microplastic monitoring data globally. Automation is a key step toward the standardized, high-throughput monitoring programs needed to track contamination trends and enforce future regulations.

Study Type Environmental

Microplastic contamination in aquatic ecosystems is a growing global concern, yet microplastic analysis remains constrained by labor-intensive pretreatment and inconsistency across operators and laboratories. Here, we report the application and validation of the first automatic microplastic pretreatment unit, Shimadzu's MAP-100, designed to standardize this critical step. The unit was evaluated using river water spiked with aged standard microplastics for controlled testing and field-collected seawater for real-sample validation. After automatic pretreatment, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectral integrity was preserved, enabling reliable polymer identification and recovery rate determination. Detection of soluble organic matter demonstrated effective organic matter removal. Mineral particles were completely eliminated, with zero residual mineral detection. The MAP-100 achieved a higher recovery of aged microplastics (95.6 ± 2.5%) than manual pretreatment (92.7 ± 3.0%), with the greatest improvement observed for small (≤1 mm) and high-density particles. In seawater samples, overall performance remained robust; however, foam microplastics showed reduced recovery due to the overflow tube's narrow diameter and sharp curvature, indicating a need for structural refinement. Despite this limitation, the closed-loop automatic workflow substantially reduces labor and processing time while improving reproducibility and operational safety for standardized microplastic monitoring.

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