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The Anthropocene – start of plastic era

Plastic is considered one of the most important inventions of the 20th century, providing us with a range of very practical materials. However, due to the mismanaged waste the plastic pollution is ubiquitous and pervasive that it has become a threat to the environment and human health. The slowly degrading/fragmenting plastic debris forms a highly heterogeneous group of particles with different sizes (i.e., from centimeter over millimeter and micrometer to nanometer scale), shapes, densities, and chemical compositions. Detection, quantification and source identification of low-micrometre range microplastics (MPs, 1-10µm) and nanoplastics (NPs, 1-1000nm) in different matrices is still one of the biggest challenges that is of great interest to a broad spectrum of industrial and environmental applications. The continuous technological improvements in analytical instruments have ignited new analytical ideas and pathways to assess and explore several key characteristics, such as concentration, composition, particle size, shape and other surface characteristics.

MS4Plastics - Mass spectrometry for the characterization of micro- and nanoplastics

Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the MS4Plastics project will develop innovative pre-treatment and pre-concentration protocols to detect and characterise low µm-range microplastics and nanoplastics (1 nm – 20 µm) in edible fish and shellfish samples (e.g., mussels, are the national dish of Belgium). To achieve its goal, the project team will employ a multidisciplinary approach that combines analytical chemistry, instrumental methods and nanometrology. Smart hyphenation strategies, combined with size-based fractionation techniques, will also be used.

The characterization of micro- and nanoplastics represents a new analytical growth pillar embedded within the Specialized Organic and Inorganic Analysis Laboratory (team GOAL). The achievement of these goals will require a wide set of complementary tools such as analytical and instrumental chemistry, physics and nanometrology. The laboratory has a wide experience in developing R&D projects and can deploy a wide range of complementary analytical techniques. GOAL hosts advanced analytical instrumentation including gas chromatograph (GC) linked to a high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometers (GC-TOF-MS) in addition to more standard GC/MS and LC/MSMS systems. Nanomaterial detection platform comprising size distribution (NTA, DLS, CPS), zeta potential, UV-Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, (single-particle) ICP-MS, ICP-AES, size exclusion chromatography, field flow fractionation coupled on-line or off-line with light scattering (multi-angle classical light scattering and dynamic light scattering), UV or fluorescence detectors and ICP-MS, S(T)EM, FTIR, µXRF, and (particle-free) test chambers. GOAL laboratory also includes sample preparation equipment such as microwave and ultrasound equipment.