- Microplastic detection is the primary hurdle towards a plastic-free world.
- Plastic doesn’t contain life-related structures making them impossible to detect by modern molecular biology methods.
- This Frankenstein plastic monster engulfing the planet needs a standard economical method of detection.
- Laser and other such techniques are proving quite expensive
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration made a standard step-by step protocol of plastic detection involving filtering, microscopic analysis and chemical manipulation.
- However, these standardized protocols has the risk of contamination and can’t be done on a large scale.
- Scientists are working towards a breakthrough in microplastic detection
The plastic problem has reached such a stage that the whole world is engulfed in it. And it’s not a large Frankenstein monster engulfing the planet. Rather, it’s the small bits and pieces of microplastics which are unable to see which plagues our system. Every animal in the ocean and every corner of the water is polluted by it. It’s as if we are living in a Plastic Age.
But what makes these micro-plastics so hard to detect. That’s what Forbes, Science Conributor and Marine Biologist, Liz Allen wrote in her latest article published in the reputed magazine. let’s take a look what’s the expert insight.
Why can’t technology detect microplastics?
In her article, Liz questions why can’t we develop a technology to detect microplastics when major advances in science and technology have made it possible to genetically engineer genes with increasing precision, isolate specific proteins from cells, and even accurately sequence entire genomes.
Unlike DNA and proteins, plastics are not alive. Here’s why that’s essential to understanding the plastic detection problem.
While scientists take advantage of the sequences within DNA or the affinity of antibodies for specific proteins, these techniques do not work on microplastics since they are just made of chemicals – without any proteins, DNA sequences, or otherwise life-related structures for scientists to use for detection.
Microplastics like these end up in our ocean. However, the actual amount of microplastics is not … [+]
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Filtering Doesn’t Help
Simple water filtering techniques are not the solution either. Filtering and sorting out microplastics is inefficient and carries a high-risk inaccuracy since many plastics are transparent and come in many different sizes. In other words, it’s hard to separate the microplastics from the natural pieces of the environment.
Expensive Plastic Detecting Methods
Some labs use high-tech lasers or mass-spectrometers to identify plastics, but these methods are not only technically challenging, but also quite expensive.
NOAA’s microplastics protocol suggests separating plastics in water samples by adding the sample to … [+]
NOAA
Standardizing Plastic Detection Method
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Marine Debris Program attempted to standardize microplastic detection methods with their publication of step-by-step instructions for quantifying marine microplastics in environmental samples in 2015. NOAA’s recommended methods suggest inexpensive but laborious filtering and microscopic analysis paired with simple chemical manipulation.
In 2018, JPI-Oceans also published a “Standardized Protocol for Monitoring Microplastics in Sediments”. While this protocol also suggests size-separation and visual analyses to detect microplastics, it also recommends a deeper analysis of the microplastics using various types of spectrometry.
Some scientists use various types of mass spectrometry to detect and identify microplastics in water … [+]
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Risk of Contamination Remains
Importantly, both of these protocols highlight the risk of contamination. With the abundance of microplastics in our everyday clothes and packaging materials, researchers must be careful to avoid adding lab-borne microplastics to their environmental samples.
Scientific Community Working Hard for Breakthrough
While true consensus on how to detect and quantify microplastics is still being coordinated, the scientific community is nonetheless working hard to provide important data on how microplastics have infiltrated our marine world.
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Source: Forbes
