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Two Birds with One Stone—Fast and Simultaneous Analysis of Microplastics: Microparticles Derived from Thermoplastics and Tire Wear

Environmental Science & Technology Letters 2018 252 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 45 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Paul Eisentraut, Erik Dümichen, Aki Sebastian Ruhl, Martin Jekel, Mirko Albrecht, Michael Gehde, Braun, Ulrike

Summary

Researchers developed a thermoanalytical method that simultaneously analyzes microplastics from both conventional thermoplastics and tire wear particles in environmental samples using a single pyrolysis run. The approach reduces analysis time and cost compared to running separate analyses, making large-scale environmental monitoring of diverse microplastic types more practical.

Polymers

Analysis of microplastic particles in environmental samples needs sophisticated techniques and is time intensive due to sample preparation and detection. Alternatives to the most common (micro-) spectroscopic techniques, Fourier transform infrared and Raman spectroscopy, are thermoanalytical methods, in which specific decomposition products can be analyzed as marker compounds for different kinds of plastic types and mass contents. Thermal extraction desorption gas chromatography–mass spectrometry allows the fast identification and quantification of MP in environmental samples without sample preparation. Whereas to date only the analysis of thermoplastic polymers has been realized, this is the first time that even the analysis of tire wear (TW) content in environmental samples has been possible. Various marker compounds for TW were identified. They include characteristic decomposition products of elastomers, antioxidants, and vulcanization agents. Advantages and drawbacks of these marker substances were evaluated. Environmental samples from street runoff were exemplarily investigated, and the results are presented.

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