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Critical assessment of approach towards estimation of microplastics in environmental matrices
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This review critically compares methods used to detect and quantify microplastics across environmental matrices including soil, sediment, water, and biosolids, concluding that combining advanced techniques like Raman microspectroscopy and pyrolysis-GC/MS reduces errors compared to standard microscopy and FTIR alone.
Abstract Microplastics (MPs) are the contaminants of growing concern due to their persistent properties in the environment. This review compares the global data on MPs concentration in soil, sediment, salt, sand, biosolids, and water. Previous studies have also developed various methods to estimate MPs for different environmental matrices, which were generally based on salt‐based density separation, physical (microscopy), chemical characterization (spectroscopy), and visual counting for extraction, identification, and quantification, respectively. In most of the existing field‐based studies, MPs are usually identified and detected by microscopic observation and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis, which maximize the probability of error in the estimation process. A combination of thermogravimetric analysis‐FTIR spectroscopy, Raman microspectroscopy, optical photothermal infrared, and pyrolysis/gas chromatography–mass spectrometry are used for the identification, recognition, and quantification of MPs in the heterogeneous solid and liquid matrices for minimizing the interference and misinterpretation of the other constituents (organic matter) present in the samples, especially soil, sediments, and biosolids.
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