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Detection of Microplastics in Water and Ice
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Researchers explored optical detection methods for identifying microplastics floating on water surfaces or trapped in ice, taking advantage of the unique light-reflecting properties of different plastic types. Advances in optical detection are important for developing faster, non-destructive tools for monitoring microplastic pollution.
It is possible to detect various microplastics (MPs) floating on water or contained in ice due to the unique optical characteristics of plastics of various chemical compositions and structures. When the MPs are measured in the spectral region between 800 and 1000 nm, which has relatively little influence on the temperature change in water, they are frequently perceived as noise or obscured by the surrounding reflection spectra because of the small number and low intensity of the representative peak wavelengths. In this study, we have applied several mathematical methods, including the convex hull, Gaussian deconvolution, and curve fitting to amplify and normalize the reflectance and thereby find the spectral properties of each polymer, namely polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), methyl methacrylate (PMMA), and polyethylene (PE). Blunt-shaped spectra with a relatively large maximum of normalized reflectance (NRmax) can be decomposed into several Gaussian peak wavelengths: 889, 910, and 932 nm for the PP and 898 and 931 nm for the PE. Moreover, unique peak wavelengths with the meaningful measure at 868 and 907 nm for the PET and 887 nm for the PMMA were also obtained. Based on the results of the study, one can say that each plastic can be identified with up to 81% precision by compensating based on the spectral properties even when they are hidden in water or ice.
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