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Microplastic Analysis in Soils: A Comparative Assessment
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Scientists tested different lab methods for detecting tiny plastic bits (microplastics) in soil and found the results varied a lot depending on which technique was used, some methods missed over half of the smallest plastic particles, especially certain biodegradable plastics. This matters because soil is where our food grows, and if we can't reliably measure how much plastic is contaminating it, it's harder to understand how much of it might be ending up in our food supply and, ultimately, our bodies.
Microplastic (MiP) contamination poses environmental risks, but harmonizing data from different quantification methods and sample matrices remains challenging. We compared analytical protocols for MiP quantification in soil, consisting of Digital, Fluorescence, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), and Raman Microscopy as well as of quantitative Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (Py-GC-MS) and 1-proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectroscopy as detection techniques. Each technique was coupled with a specific extraction procedure and evaluated for three soils with different textures and organic carbon contents, amended with eight types of large MiPs (0.5 - 1mm) – high- and low-density polyethylene (HDPE and LDPE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyamide (PA), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and a biodegradable mulch film product composed of polybutylene adipate-co-terephthalate/ polylactic acid (PBAT/ PLA). In addition, we included two types of small MiP (20 - 250 µm) composed of either LDPE or PBAT/ PLA into the tests. The results showed that protocols for Digital, Fluorescence, and ATR-FTIR microscopy recovered 74% to 98% of the large MiPs, with fluorescence yielding the highest recoveries. Raman spectroscopy was most sensitive to soil organic matter residues, requiring more sophisticated sample pretreatment. Fluorescence staining with subsequent Fluorescence microscopy detection effectively recovered most small-sized LDPE-MiP but missed 56 - 93% of small PBAT/ PLA particles. For the latter, reliable quantification was achieved only using Soxhlet extraction combined with 1H-NMR spectroscopic quantification. Pyrolysis-GC-MS showed intermediate results, displaying low sensitivity to plastic type, and lower recoveries with soil clay content increased. Comparing MiP loads across soils remains, thus, problematic when different methods for extraction, purification and detection are used, highlighting the need for including international certified soil test standards into the analysis.
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