Seminar on “Automated particle recognition software for Raman microscopes: Application to microplastics determination”
Date and Time: 11 January 2023 / 11:00 (CET).
Location: Instituto de Catálisis y Petroleoquímica (ICP-CSIC, Madrid) & Online (hybrid)
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Seminar Description
Microplastics (MP) are a ubiquitous pollutant in the environment and have been reported in urban, rural and isolated areas across the earth. While aquatic and soil samples are broadly characterised, the analysis of aerosol samples is still an emerging field. Monitoring the abundance of MP in air samples raises the possibility to assess their human intake. MP are analyzed using mass balanced or particle related methods. To allow the detailed characterisation of MP, we are combining both method types by using µ-Raman spectroscopy (µRaman) and pyrolysis Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (pyr GC/MS). This combination raises the possibility to compare the results of both method types but there are some challenges in the sample transfer. The results of µRaman are compared to pyr-GC/MS by employing a mass estimation. Particle dimensions used for mass estimation are taken from automated particle recognition software GEPARD. The combination of both methods can be a significant contribution to the analysis of MP in the atmosphere and its analysis can be facilitated by software automation.
References
J. Brandt, L. Bittrich, F. Fischer, E. Kanaki, A. Tagg, R. Lenz, M. Labrenz, E. Brandes, D. Fischer, K.-J. Eichhorn, High-Throughput Analyses of Microplastic Samples Using Fourier Transform Infrared and Raman Spectrometry, Appl. Spectrosc. 74 (2020) 1185–1197. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003702820932926.
GEPARD (Gepard Enabled PARticle Detection) software for combining particle detection and spectroscopic measurements is available from the IPF's Gitlab-Page: https://gitlab.ipfdd.de/GEPARD/gepard
Lecturer
Mareike Schumacher
Zentrum Makromolekulare Strukturanalyse, Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden
Master of Science in Chemistry at Technische Universität Dresden. Former Research Scientist at Kraftwerk TUBES GmbH (quality control management for fuel cell production) and Institut Fresenius (analysis of microplastics in food and beverages). Since 2022 Research Scientist at Leibniz-Institut of Polymer Research Dresden (Microplastics in environmental samples, Project Research AirPlast).