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A Trial Survey on Atmospheric/Airborne Microplastics Using Micro-Raman Spectroscopy (μRaman)
Summary
This Japanese study conducted what is described as the country's first airborne microplastic survey using micro-Raman spectroscopy, detecting an average of 0.52 microplastic particles per cubic meter of air across four sites including urban, rural, and remote locations. Finding microplastics even in relatively clean air environments suggests that no location is free from airborne plastic exposure, raising concerns about inhalation as a widespread route of human exposure.
大気中マイクロプラスチック（AMPs）の存在が近年明らかとなったが，現状では未解明の点が多く，調査手法の確立および実態解明が喫緊の課題である。本研究では，感度や空間分解能に優れる顕微ラマン分光法を使用したものとしては国内で初のAMPs調査として，4地点（新潟曽和および川崎（都市），笠堀ダム（田園），小笠原（遠隔））における存在状況の把握を試みた。その結果，精度管理下においてAMPsが検出された（n＝32）。AMPsの大気中個数濃度は 0.52±0.24 MPs m－3，種類はポリエチレン（PE），プラスチック樹脂（RES），ポリアミド（PA）の順に多く，粒径（フェレ径）は 7.6±3.7 μm，形状はいずれも粒子または破片状であり，既往研究の報告と矛盾しなかった。2023/11/14～12/12にかけて実施した集中観測（新潟曽和，川崎，笠堀ダムの並行測定）の結果から，地点間の平均濃度水準は概ね同等だが，週別変動は都市と田園とで異なる推移を示した。気象場や捕集地点の立地状況，潜在的な発生源の違いが結果に与えた影響は不明確だが，清浄な大気環境下でもプラスチック汚染のおそれがあると考えられた。手法の精度のさらなる向上およびその確立，他の大気汚染物質を含め観測データの蓄積による検証が必要である。
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