Microplastics Detection Using Pyrolysis-GC/MS-Based Methods

Abstract

By now the polymeric nature of microparticles has to be demonstrated before their classification as microplastics. Pyrolysis coupled to gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) has been used for years to characterize polymers. Thanks to three distinct steps, destructuring, separation, and identification, this chapter explains how this technique allows the analyst to ascertain the polymeric

Methods of sampling and sample preparation for detection of microplastics and nanoplastics in the environment

“…The second key parameter is maintaining a high temperature throughout the whole analytical system, to avoid products condensation and adsorption in the system, except for the column head where the concentration of molecules occurs before chromatographic separation. The complete description of pyrolyser types and system configurations have been reviewed in Dehaut et al (2020).…”

“…Classical applications of py-GC/MS are polymer characterization (specific composition and / or chemical structures, degradation mechanisms, and related kinetics) (Tsuge and Ohtani, 2002). The most recent applications of py-GC/MS are in fast polymer identification and quantification in environmental samples (Dehaut et al 2020), through analysing their specific pyrolysis products. Their nature and proportion are immediately related to the applied pyrolysis temperature.…”

Monitoring of microplastic pollution in the Arctic: recent developments in polymer identification, quality assurance and control, and data reporting

“…They usually reflect a highly improved signal to noise ratio and enable polymer detection even at trace levels. To date, more than 10 different basic polymer types have been included in successful py-GC/MS applications for simultaneous microplastic detection in various complex matrices (Fischer and Scholz-Böttcher, 2017, Fischer and Scholz-Böttcher, 2019, Dierkes et al, 2019, Gomiero et al, 2019a, Dehaut et al, 2020, Primpke et al, 2020c. Similarly, TED-GC/MS has been successfully applied to identify different synthetic polymers in complex environmental samples (Dümichen et al, 2015, Dumichen et al, 2017, Eisentraut et al, 2018.…”

Quantification of Microplastics by Pyrolysis Coupled with Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry in Sediments: Challenges and Implications

“…Some of these products are defined as indicator compounds when they allow the detection of targeted polymers. However, some constituents of the remaining natural organic matter may release the same pyrolysis products as the targeted polymers [15][16][17][18], hence a potential MP overestimation. The identification of pyrolysis products that are specific to the targeted polymers is therefore necessary.…”