Microplastics are becoming a major global environmental concern with regular major newsworthy studies revealing the presence of plastics and microplastics in remote geographic locations, or as contaminations in many different consumer products, especially food and beverages, as well as within the digestive systems of marine species.
Microplastics were initially defined as being plastic materials below 5mm in size, but the definition is now more commonly stated as plastic particles between the size 1mm down to the micron level, although there is no globally accepted definition.
Analysis of both environmental samples and consumer products containing microplastics is essential to determine their prevalence and their impact.
Of the techniques adopted, infrared (IR) spectroscopy, and more specifically IR microscopy/imaging, is the primary analytical technique for the detection and identification of microplastics.
Results will be shown highlighting the detection and identification of microplastics present in a variety of different bottled water products.
Which IR sampling modes are best applied to microplastic samples?
Keynote Speaker Ian Robertson, Senior Applications Scientist, PerkinElmer Ian has been working in the field of spectroscopy applications for over 35 years.
He became a Graduate of the Royal Society of Chemistry in the 1980s achieving MRSC and CChem status.
He is currently a Senior Applications Scientist in the Spectroscopy group at PerkinElmer, based in Seer Green in the UK.
He has been working on microplastic applications over the past 4 years.