Recent Developments in the Field

The past week has been filled with laser analysis, but because I haven't done anything new or notable (that I can talk about at the moment), I thought I would take some time to highlight recent developments in the field of microplastics research. As an aside, I have been working on three separate items with research: (1) processing the rest of the samples from my work (more than 300 processed so far), (2) drafting a manuscript based on this research, and (3) creating a poster presentation for the public based on this research.

Two major advancements have happened in microplastics research over the past year that I think are notable. The first is the wealth of new literature published about microplastics pollution linked to wastewater treatment plants in urban and coastal areas. Some of the research comes from underrepresented countries in the microplastics literature (Israel, Iran, and Thailand), which demonstrates an increased interest in assessing the problem worldwide. New research has also challenged some longstanding beliefs about the role of population density as a leading contributor to coastal microplastics pollution. Based on research by Schuyler and colleagues (2021), land use, socio-economics, and local site variables (like site type) are more strongly correlated with plastic in the environment than human population density. These factors represent potential actionable items for conservation organizations and government groups, compared to reducing human population densities.

The second major advancement is the development of new microplastics analysis technologies that seek to reduce processing time and increase confidence in the polymer analysis phase. The LDIR chemical imaging system introduces much needed automation to imaging and spectral analysis. While the technology is still new, it looks quite promising. Currently the spectral database is sparse, but all spectral databases are empty until people add reference material. I appreciate that the company provides comparisons between their LDIR system to FTIR and Raman, which are the two most prominent microplastics spectral analysis systems, and that the comparisons seem honest. I'm including a link to the LDIR information page and encourage you to watch the video, which shows how remarkable the system is. I will try to summarize the differences between what LDIR does and how I have to process samples using Raman so that you understand why this technology excites me. For LDIR you place samples on a specific microscope slide and the system allows you to move around the microscope slide and scroll in and out using your mouse. Then, you select a section of the slide for the system to analyze and it will scan to identify any particles within the area. In the video, the system analyzed a decently sized section of the slide in less than 20 seconds. Then the system compares the infrared spectra of all the particles it identified to the reference library, and the user can click between images of the particles directly in the system. Why is this so amazing? For Raman, I place samples on a microscope slide and then have to find each particle using a joystick that is attached to the microscope stage (the part where slides sit under the lenses) and the joystick moves the stage 50 nanometers at a time, which is incredibly slow. Once I find a particle, I then have to focus the image and then run the laser, which takes about 3.5 minutes per particle. Notably, I can only analyze one particle at a time using Raman. When I finish analyzing the particle, I then export the IR spectra to my computer where I compare it to a reference library. In short, the LDIR system seems to process multiple samples ten times faster than Raman can process a single sample.

So what do advancements in the field mean? For one, it means that communities, businesses, organizations, and governments are realizing the potential detriment of continued plastics use and pollution and are looking to understand what is currently happening due to microplastics in the ocean. Second, I think it means that individuals and organizations are realizing the current challenges in the field of microplastics research and are trying to reduce the obstacles by making research technologies better (and hopefully cheaper in the future) and by providing funding to groups who are hoping to study and potentially solve the problem. For me though? It means that research will continue as usual, but that I have more literature to read and to assess how current findings and trends are related to what I am finding in my own work. I hope that in a few months I will be able to share my findings, and though I really wish I could share everything now, the work isn't quite done, nor published.

Until next time.

Schuyler, Q., Wilcox, C., Lawson, T. J., Ranatunga, R. R. M. K. P., Hu, C-S., Global Plastics Project Partners, & Hardesty, B. D. (2021). Human population density is a poor predictor of debris in the environment. Front. Environ. Sci., 9, 583454.