Analysis, Occurrence, and Degradation of Microplastics in the Aqueous Environment

Synthetic polymers are one of the most significant pollutants in the aquatic environment. Most research focused on small plastic particles, so-called microplastics (particle size, 1–5,000 μm). Compared to macroplastics, the small size complicates their determination in environmental samples and demands for more sophisticated analytical approaches. The detection methods of microplastics reported in the past are highly diverse. This chapter summarizes different strategies for the sampling of water and sediment and sample treatments, including the separation of plastic particles and removal of natural debris that are necessary prior the identification of microplastics. Moreover, the techniques used for the identification of plastics particles are presented in this chapter. With the application of the method described in this chapter, microplastics were detected in freshwater systems, such as rivers and lakes worldwide. The abundance of microplastics reported in the studies varied in more than three orders of magnitude. Furthermore, microplastics are not uniform, as there are many different types of synthetic polymers commercially available. Consequently, a variety of different polymer types is present in the aquatic environment. The knowledge on the type of polymer provides additional information for scientists: the type of polymer dictates its physicochemical properties and the degradation. The environmental degradation of plastics is an important factor for the formation, distribution, and accumulation of microplastics in the aquatic system. Thus, this chapter also summarizes the degradation pathways for synthetic polymers in the environment.