High-Speed Measurement of Microplastics Smaller than 100 μm Collected on a Filter and Efficient Analysis

User Benefits

- It enables high-speed measurements of microplastics (MPs) smaller than 100 µm that are collected on a filter. - Particle analysis program can identify the types of MPs and easily analyze color-coded by type and counting the number of MPs. - In addition to calculating the size of MPs (minor axis, major axis, Feret diameter, and area), it can also estimate the volumes and masses of particles.

Introduction

Microplastics (MPs) with diameters ranging from a few µm to 5 mm are widely recognized as an environmental problem in marine environments, and reports of MPs smaller than 100 µm in drinking water are attracting particular attention. To confirm the number and shape of MPs smaller than 100 µm and qualitatively analyze them, samples are usually collected on a filter and observed and measured using an infrared or Raman microscope. For that process, mapping measurements of a specified area is simpler than searching for candidate MPs on the filter and performing point measurements, and it reduces the risk of overlooking particles. However, it is more timeconsuming, and it also requires analyzing the MPs after they are measured to identify the candidates, determine their sizes, aggregate the data, and so on. Therefore, a High-Speed mapping program and particle analysis program were developed to reduce the time required for these measurement and data analysis steps. In this example, High-Speed mapping was used to measure a standard MPs sample, and the particle analysis program was used to analyze the distribution of MPs within the sample.

August 7, 2025 GMT