Kniggendorf Ann-Kathrin, Wetzel Christoph, Roth Bernhard
Hannover Centre for Optical Technologies, Leibniz University Hannover, Nienburger Str. 17, 30167 Hannover, Germany.
Cluster of Excellence PhoenixD, Leibniz University Hannover, Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hannover, Germany.
Sensors (Basel). 2019 Apr 18;19(8):1839. doi: 10.3390/s19081839.
Microplastic particles have been found in drinking water sources worldwide and, thus, also in our food and beverages. Especially small microplastics, with sizes of 1 mm and less, cannot be identified reliably without spectroscopic means such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) or Raman spectroscopy, usually applied to the particles extracted from the samples. However, for drinking and tap water, with its comparatively low biological loads, direct observation may be possible and allows a point-of-entry monitoring for beverages and food to ensure uncontaminated drinking water is being used. In a proof of concept, we apply Raman spectroscopy to observe individual microplastic particles in tap water with added particulate and fluorescent contaminants streaming with 1 L/h through a custom-made flow cell. We evaluated several tubing materials for compatibility with microplastic suspensions containing three different polymers widely found in microplastic surveys worldwide. The experiment promises the monitoring of streaming tap water and even clear surface waters for microplastics smaller than 0.1 mm.
世界各地的饮用水源中都发现了微塑料颗粒，因此，我们的食物和饮料中也存在微塑料颗粒。特别是尺寸在1毫米及以下的微小塑料颗粒，如果没有诸如傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）或拉曼光谱等光谱手段，通常无法可靠地识别，这些光谱手段通常应用于从样品中提取的颗粒。然而，对于饮用水和自来水，由于其生物负荷相对较低，直接观察可能是可行的，并且可以对饮料和食品进行入口监测，以确保使用的是未受污染的饮用水。在一个概念验证中，我们应用拉曼光谱来观察自来水中的单个微塑料颗粒，这些自来水中添加了颗粒状和荧光污染物，以1升/小时的流速通过一个定制的流动池。我们评估了几种管材与含有三种在全球微塑料调查中广泛发现的不同聚合物的微塑料悬浮液的兼容性。该实验有望对流动的自来水甚至清澈的地表水进行监测，以检测尺寸小于0.1毫米的微塑料。
