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Methods for microplastic sampling and analysis in the seawater and fresh water environment
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This review summarized and compared sampling and analysis methods for microplastics in marine and freshwater environments — including trawls, manta nets, pump filtration, FTIR, and Raman spectroscopy — and called for standardization to enable cross-study comparisons of pollution levels.
Microplastic (plastic smaller than 5mm in size) is ubiquitous around the world both in the ocean and the freshwater system. Due to their potential serious negative impact on marine organisms and human beings, marine microplastics have attracted worldwide attention in the past decade. Information and knowledge of the spatial and temporal distribution of marine microplastics are crucial for accurately assessing our current and future environmental health conditions. This is also important for developing mitigation plans and measures to protect our environment. Since the measured microplastic pollution level is closely related to the sampling methods and identification techniques, it is important to employ standardized sampling and analysis operation procedures for cross-comparison. In this chapter, we present the basic sampling, sample pretreatment and microplastic identification techniques involved in microplastic pollution assessment and discuss the adaptability of different sampling and pretreatment methods. The pros and cons of different techniques are also discussed.
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Analytical methods for identifying microplastics in environment: a critical review
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This review systematically covers the full analytical pipeline for identifying environmental microplastics — from sample collection and density separation through digestion, filtration, and spectroscopic identification — highlighting that Raman spectroscopy outperforms FTIR for particles under 10 µm and that method standardization remains the central challenge for cross-study comparability.
Techniques for Collecting Micro Plastics in Freshwaters and Sediments
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This review examined sampling methods used across 150 studies on microplastics in freshwater bodies and sediments, finding significant variation in sampling tools, mesh sizes, and analytical approaches that make it difficult to compare results across studies. Standardizing sampling and analysis protocols is one of the most pressing needs in microplastic research. Without comparable methods, it is difficult to assess the true extent of freshwater microplastic contamination globally.
Comparison between manta trawl and in situ pump filtration methods, and guidance for visual identification of microplastics in surface waters
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This methodological study compared manta trawl and in situ pump filtration approaches for sampling surface water microplastics, providing guidance for consistent visual identification of plastic particles. Standardizing sampling and identification methods is critical for making meaningful comparisons between different research studies.
Insights Into Microplastics Pollution in Aquatic Ecosystem: a Short Review of Sampling and Analysis Methods
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This review summarizes current methods for sampling and analyzing microplastics in rivers and estuaries, including techniques like FTIR and Raman spectroscopy for polymer identification. The authors highlight the need for standardized sampling and analysis methods to ensure that microplastic data across different studies are reliable and comparable.
Protocol for Microplastics Sampling on the Sea Surface and Sample Analysis. [video article]
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This methods paper and companion video describe a standardized protocol for sampling microplastics from the sea surface using a manta net, then processing and chemically identifying particles using microscopy and FTIR spectroscopy. Standardized sampling methods are critical for producing comparable microplastic data across different research groups and monitoring programs.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.