Quantify and identify microplastic particles in environmental samples using automated IR imaging. This is essential for monitoring pollution in water and soil.
About this application
Environmental testing laboratories face growing regulatory obligations to monitor synthetic particle contamination in surface water, municipal wastewater, and soil samples. Public authorities demand detailed reporting on microplastic prevalence to assess ecological risks and safeguard environmental quality. Water boards, municipal authorities, and contract laboratories must reliably identify these microscopic pollutants across large sample sets to fulfill their mandatory reporting duties.
Conventional identification relies heavily on manual visual sorting under an optical microscope, followed by targeted spectroscopic analysis of isolated fragments. This visual approach introduces subjective judgment and demands hours of tedious labor for every single filter disk. Microscopic plastic fragments are easily confused with natural organic matter or missed entirely during manual screening. Sorting through numerous candidate particles manually creates severe operational bottlenecks that limit total sample throughput in busy testing facilities.
Automated infrared microscopy resolves these operational bottlenecks by combining spatial mapping with vibrational spectroscopy. Samples collected on dedicated filter substrates are placed directly onto the stage of the LUMOS II FT-IR Microscope. The automated imaging system systematically scans designated sample areas, recording localized infrared spectra for detected particles across the target surface. This automated measurement process generates clean polymer identifications, physical size distributions, and quantitative particle counts without requiring manual manipulation.
With these detailed analytical datasets, environmental specialists can make confident decisions regarding water treatment process efficiency and regulatory submission. Determining the exact polymer composition helps investigators trace point-source pollution back to specific industrial effluents, urban stormwater, or agricultural runoff. Contract laboratories can issue clear analytical reports, establish baseline pollution metrics, and confirm environmental specifications across regional watersheds.
Download the complete application note to examine the detailed experimental procedure, automated measurement parameters, and sample identification spectra.
Instruments Used
LUMOS II FT-IR Microscope
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