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It matters how we measure - Quantification of microplastics in drinking water by μFTIR and μRaman
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Researchers compared two different spectroscopy methods for measuring microplastics in drinking water from a Danish waterworks and found significantly different results depending on which technique was used. The infrared method showed higher removal efficiency than the Raman method, largely because each technique detects different size ranges of particles. The study highlights that how we measure microplastics matters enormously, and standardized methods are needed for reliable drinking water assessments.
The water treatment for microplastics (MP) at a Danish groundwater-based waterworks was assessed by Fourier-Transform IR micro-spectroscopy (μFTIR) (nominal size limit 6.6 μm) and compared to results from Raman micro-spectroscopy (μRaman) (nominal size limit 1.0 μm) on the same sample set. The MP abundance at the waterworks' inlet and outlet was quantified as MP counts per cubic metre (N/m) and estimated MP mass per cubic metre (μg/m). The waterworks' MP removal efficiency was found to be higher when analysing by μFTIR (counts: 78.14 ± 49.70%, mass: 98.73 ± 11.10%) and less fluctuating than when using μRaman (counts: 43.2%, mass: 75.1%). However, both techniques pointed to a value of ∼80% for the counts' removal efficiency of MPs >6.6 μm. Contrarily to what was shown by μRaman, no systematic leaking of MPs from the plastic elements of the facility could be identified for the μFTIR dataset, either from the counts (inlet 31.86 ± 17.17 N/m, outlet 4.98 ± 2.09 N/m) or mass estimate (inlet 76.30 ± 106.30 μg/m, outlet 2.81 ± 2.78 μg/m). The estimation of human MP intake from drinking water calculated from the μFTIR data (5 N/(year·capita)) proved to be approximately 332 times lower than that calculated from the μRaman dataset, although in line with previous studies employing μFTIR. By merging the MP length datasets from the two techniques, it could be shown that false negatives became prevalent in the μFTIR dataset already below 50 μm. Further, by fitting the overall frequency of the MP length ranges with a power function, it could be shown that μFTIR missed approximately 95.7% of the extrapolated MP population (1-1865.9 μm). Consequently, relying on only μFTIR may have led to underestimating the MP content of the investigated drinking water, as most of the 1-50 μm MP would have been missed.
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Analytical Techniques for Microplastics in Drinking Water
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Tiny plastic particles have been showing up in our drinking water, and scientists are still working out the best ways to detect and measure them—this review compares the main tools available, from simple visual checks to advanced techniques like infrared and Raman spectroscopy that can spot particles as small as 1 micrometer (much thinner than a human hair). The big takeaway: there's no single agreed-upon method yet for testing water safety, which makes it harder to know exactly how much plastic we're actually consuming and to set consistent safety standards—something researchers say needs to be fixed soon.
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This meta-analysis works toward standardizing the methods scientists use to detect microplastics in drinking water using infrared spectroscopy. Consistent detection methods are essential because without them, we cannot accurately compare contamination levels across studies or reliably assess how much microplastic people are actually consuming in their tap and bottled water.
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