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Updated: Oct 27, 2025
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Sampling, Sorting, and Characterizing Microplastics in Aquatic Environments with High Suspended Sediment Loads and Large Floating Debris
Published on: July 28, 2018
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Characterizing the multidimensionality of microplastics across environmental compartments
Merel Kooi1, Sebastian Primpke2, Svenja M Mintenig1
1Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands.
Water Research
|July 25, 2021
Summary
This study characterizes over 60,000 microplastic particles, revealing compartment-specific size distributions. Understanding these microplastic characteristics is crucial for assessing environmental and health risks.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Analytical Chemistry
- Toxicology
Background:
- Microplastics pose risks to ecosystems and human health.
- Assessing these risks requires understanding microplastic multidimensionality.
- Current data often lack comprehensive characterization of microplastic properties.
Purpose of the Study:
- To comprehensively characterize microplastic particles from various aquatic environments.
- To establish continuous distributions for size, shape, polymer, volume, and mass.
- To provide data for realistic risk assessment of microplastics.
Main Methods:
- Utilized state-of-the-art FTIR-imaging for >60,000 microplastic particles.
- Applied automated imaging post-processing software with quality control criteria.
- Analyzed particles from marine and freshwater surface water, sediments, wastewater, and biota.
Main Results:
- Developed continuous probability density functions (PDFs) for particle characteristics.
- Found compartment-specific power law distributions for particle length (slopes 2.2-3.1).
- Observed polymer-specific differences in length distributions, indicating unique processes.
Conclusions:
- Microplastic particle properties vary significantly across environmental compartments and polymer types.
- The developed PDFs offer a robust framework for toxicologically relevant dose metrics.
- This characterization is essential for accurate microplastic risk assessment.
