TY - GEN A1 - Braun, Ulrike A1 - Eisentraut, Paul A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Kittner, Maria A1 - Dümichen, Erik A1 - Thaxton, K. A1 - Kleine-Benne, E. A1 - Anumol, T. T1 - Accelerated Determination of Microplastics in Environmental Samples Using Thermal Extraction Desorption-Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (TED-GC/MS) T2 - Agilent Application Notes N2 - There is growing interest in quantifying microplastics in environmental samples. This application note presents a thermal extraction desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TED-GC/MS) method that is well suited to automation and increased sample throughput. The method is also able to detect all particle sizes in the sample as long as the limit of detection (LOD) is reached and allows analysis of larger samples of 15 to 25 mg or more. Samples were decomposed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and the gaseous decomposition products were trapped on a solid-phase sorbent, followed by thermal desorption‑gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TD-GC/MS) using an Agilent 5977B GC/MSD coupled to an Agilent 7890B GC. Target microplastic particle (MP) polymers were identified in environmental samples including surface water, finished compost, house dust, and drinking water. Quantification of MP polymers in environmental samples provided LODs of 0.06 to 2.2 μg, allowing the detection of MPs in trace amounts with sample weights of up to 1 g. Method repeatability was adequate for reliable quantification with RSDs of approximately 6 to 12%. KW - Environment KW - Microplastic particles KW - TED-GC/MS KW - Mass content KW - Thermoanalytical PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Agilent Technologies Inc. CY - USA AN - OPUS4-51672 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klöckner, P. A1 - Seiwert, B. A1 - Eisentraut, Paul A1 - Braun, Ulrike A1 - Reemtsma, T. A1 - Wagner, S. T1 - Characterization of tire and road wear particles from road runoffindicates highly dynamic particle properties JF - Water Research N2 - Tire and road wear particles (TRWPs) are heteroagglomerates of tire rubber and other particles deposited on the road surface and one of the main contributors to non-exhaust emissions of automobile traffic. In this study, samples from road environments were analyzed for their TRWP contents and concentra- tions of eight organic tire constituents. TRWP concentrations were determined by quantifying Zn in the density fraction < 1.9 g/cm ³and by thermal extraction desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TED-GC/MS) and the concentrations ranged from 3.7 to 480 mg TRWP/g. Strong and statistically signif- icant correlations with TRWPs were found for 2-hydroxybenzothiazole and 2-aminobenzothiazole, indi- cating that these substances may be suitable markers of TRWPs. The mass distribution of TRWPs in road dust suggests that the main mass fraction formed on roads consists of coarse particles ( > 100 μm). Data for a sedimentation basin indicate that the fine fraction ( < 50 μm) is preferentially transported by road runoffinto receiving waters. The size distribution and density data of TRWP gathered by three different quantitation approaches also suggest that aging of TRWPs leads to changes in their particle density. An improved understanding of the dynamics of TRWP properties is essential to assess the distribution and dissipation of this contaminant of emerging concern in the environment. KW - Tire Wear KW - Density separation KW - Microplastic KW - Urban PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2020.116262 VL - 185 SP - 116262 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-51256 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Braun, Ulrike A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Herper, D. A1 - Knefel, M. A1 - Bednarz, M. A1 - Bannick, C. G. T1 - Detektion von Mikroplastik in Flaschenwasser mittels thermoanalytischer Verfahren N2 - Im Vortrag wird ein Messfiltertiegel als Zusatztool für die TED-GC/MS vorgestellt, welcher für die Probenaufbereitung von kleinen Partikelfrachten oder kleinen Partikelgrößen genutzt werden kann. Er ist Filtereinheit und Messtiegel in einem, wodurch Verluste bei der Überführung der Probe in das Messgefäß sowie Kontaminationen vermindert werden. Das beispiel ist hier die Filtration von Flaschenwasser mit anschließender Detektion mit der TED-GC/MS. T2 - BVL_Kick-off Meeting "Mikroplastik in Lebensmitteln" CY - Online meeting DA - 03.12.2020 KW - Mikroplastik KW - TED-GC/MS KW - Kleine Partikel KW - Geringe Partikelfrachten KW - Mikroplastik-Massengehalte PY - 2020 AN - OPUS4-51794 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Goedecke, Caroline A1 - Dittmann, Daniel A1 - Eisentraut, Paul A1 - Wiesner, Yosri A1 - Schartel, Bernhard A1 - Klack, Patrick A1 - Braun, Ulrike T1 - Evaluation of thermoanalytical methods equipped with evolved gas analysis for the detection of microplastic in environmental samples JF - Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis N2 - Microplastic particles are currently detected in almost all environmental compartments. The results of detection vary widely, as a multitude of very different methods are used with very different requirements for analytical validity. In this work four thermoanalytical methods are compared and their advantages and limitations are discussed. One of them is thermal extraction-desorption gas chromatography mass spectrometry (TED-GC/MS), an analysis method for microplastic detection that has become established in recent years. In addition, thermogravimetric analysis coupled with Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (TGA-FTIR) and mass spectrometry (TGA-MS) were applied, two methods that are less common in this field but are still used in other research areas. Finally, microscale combustion calorimeter (MCC) was applied, a method not yet used for microplastic detection. The presented results are taken from a recently published interlaboratory comparison test by Becker et al. (2020). Here a reference material consisting of suspended matter and specified added polymer masses was examined, and only the results of the recoveries were presented. In the present paper, however, the results for the individual polymers are discussed in detail and individual perspectives for all instruments are shown. It was found that TED-GC/MS is the most suitable method for samples with unknown matrix and unknown, variable kinds and contents of microplastic. TGA-FTIR is a robust method for samples with known matrix and with defined kinds of microplastic. TGA-MS may offer a solution for the detection of PVC particles in the future. MCC can be used as a very fast and simple screening method for the identification of a potential microplastic load of standard polymers in unknown samples. KW - Microplastic KW - TED-GC/MS KW - TGA-MS KW - TGA-FTIR KW - MCC KW - Thermal analysis PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-516687 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaap.2020.104961 VL - 152 SP - 104961 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-51668 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wander, Lukas A1 - Vianello, A. A1 - Vollertsen, J. A1 - Westad, F. A1 - Braun, Ulrike A1 - Paul, Andrea T1 - Exploratory analysis of hyperspectral FTIR data obtained from environmental microplastics samples JF - Analytical Methods N2 - Hyperspectral imaging of environmental samples with infrared microscopes is one of the preferred methods to find and characterize microplastics. Particles can be quantified in terms of number, size and size distribution. Their shape can be studied and the substances can be identified. Interpretation of the collected spectra is a typical problem encountered during the analysis. The image datasets are large and contain spectra of countless particles of natural and synthetic origin. To supplement existing Analysis pipelines, exploratory multivariate data analysis was tested on two independent datasets. Dimensionality reduction with principal component analysis (PCA) and uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP) was used as a core concept. It allowed for improved visual accessibility of the data and created a chemical two-dimensional image of the sample. Spectra belonging to particles could be separated from blank spectra, reducing the amount of data significantly. Selected spectra were further studied, also applying PCA and UMAP. Groups of similar spectra were identified by cluster analysis using k-means, density based, and interactive manual clustering. Most clusters could be assigned to chemical species based on reference spectra. While the results support findings obtained with a ‘targeted analysis’ based on automated library search, exploratory analysis points the attention towards the group of unidientified spectra that remained and are otherwise easily overlooked. KW - Microplastics KW - FTIR KW - Exploratory analysis PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/c9ay02483b VL - 12 IS - 6 SP - 781 EP - 791 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry AN - OPUS4-50396 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Müller, Axel A1 - Goedecke, Caroline A1 - Eisentraut, Paul A1 - Piechotta, Christian A1 - Braun, Ulrike T1 - Microplastic analysis using chemical extraction followed by LC‑UV analysis: a straightforward approach to determine PET content in environmental samples JF - Environmental Sciences Europe N2 - Background: The ubiquitous occurrence of microplastic particles in marine and aquatic ecosystems was intensively investigated in the past decade. However, we know less about the presence, fate, and input paths of microplastic in terrestrial ecosystems. A possible entry path for microplastic into terrestrial ecosystems is the agricultural application of sewage sludge and solid bio-waste as fertilizers. Microplastic contained in sewage sludge also includes Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which could originate as fiber from textile products or as a fragment from packaging products (foils, bottles, etc.). Information about microplastic content in such environmental samples is limited yet, as most of the used analytical methods are very time-consuming, regarding sample preparation and detection, require sophisticated analytical tools and eventually need high user knowledge. Results: Here, we present a simple, specific tool for the analysis of PET microplastic particles based on alkaline extraction of PET from the environmental matrix and subsequent determination of the monomers, terephthalic acid, using liquid chromatography with UV detection (LC-UV). The applicability of the method is shown for different types of PET in several soil-related, terrestrial environmental samples, e.g., soil, sediment, compost, fermentation residues, but also sewage sludge, suspended particles from urban water management systems, and indoor dust. Recoveries for model samples are between 94.5 and 107.1%. Limit of determination and limit of quantification are absolute masses of 0.031 and 0.121 mg PET, respectively. In order to verify the measured mass contents of the environmental samples, a method comparison with thermal extraction-desorption-gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (TED-GC/MS) was conducted. Both methods deliver similar results and corroborated each other. PET mass contents in environmental samples range from values below LOQ in agriculture soil up to 57,000 mg kg−1 in dust samples. Conclusions: We demonstrate the potential of an integral method based on chemical extraction for the Determination of PET mass contents in solid environmental samples. The method was successfully applied to various matrices and may serve as an analytical tool for further investigations of PET-based microplastic in terrestrial ecosystems. KW - Soil KW - Analysis KW - Microplastic KW - PET KW - LC-UV PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-509060 DO - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-020-00358-x IS - 32 SP - 85 PB - Springer Open CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-50906 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Becker, Roland A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Sommerfeld, Thomas A1 - Braun, Ulrike T1 - Quantification of microplastics in a freshwater suspended organic matter using different thermoanalytical methods – outcome of an interlaboratory comparison JF - Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis N2 - A sedimented freshwater suspended organic matter fortified with particles of polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was employed in an interlaboratory comparison of thermoanalytical methods for microplastics identification and quantification. Three laboratories performed pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS), three others provided results using thermal extraction desorption followed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (TED-GC-MS). One participant performed thermogravimetry-infrared spectroscopy (TGA-FTIR) and two participants used thermogravimetry coupled to mass spectrometry (TGA-MS). Further participants used differential scanning microscopy (DSC), a procedure based on micro combustion calorimetry (MCC) and a procedure based on elemental analysis. Each participant employed a different combination of sample treatment, calibration and instrumental Settings for polymer identification and quantification. Though there is obviously room for improvements regarding the between-laboratory reproducibility and the harmonization of procedures it was seen that the participants Performing Py-GC-MS, TED-GC-MS, and TGA-FTIR were able to correctly identify all polymers and to report reasonable quantification results in the investigated concentration range (PE: 20.0 μg/mg, PP: 5.70 μg/mg; PS: 2.20 μg/mg, PET: 18.0 μg/mg). Although for the other methods limitations exists regarding the detection of specific polymers, they showed potential as alternative approaches for polymer quantification in solid environmental matrices. KW - Interlaboratory comparison KW - Microplastics KW - Suspended organic matter KW - Pyrolysis PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaap.2020.104829 VL - 148 SP - 1 EP - 6 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-50977 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dittmann, Daniel A1 - Eisentraut, Paul A1 - Goedecke, Caroline A1 - Wiesner, Yosri A1 - Jekel, M A1 - Ruhl, A S A1 - Braun, Ulrike T1 - Specific adsorption sites and conditions derived by thermal decomposition of activated carbons and adsorbed carbamazepine JF - Scientific Reports N2 - The adsorption of organic micropollutants onto activated carbon is a favourable solution for the treatment of drinking water and wastewater. However, these adsorption processes are not sufficiently understood to allow for the appropriate prediction of removal processes. In this study, thermogravimetric analysis, alongside evolved gas analysis, is proposed for the characterisation of micropollutants adsorbed on activated carbon. Varying amounts of carbamazepine were adsorbed onto three different activated carbons, which were subsequently dried, and their thermal decomposition mechanisms examined. The discovery of 55 different pyrolysis products allowed differentiations to be made between specific adsorption sites and conditions. However, the same adsorption mechanisms were found for all samples, which were enhanced by inorganic constituents and oxygen containing surface groups. Furthermore, increasing the loadings led to the evolution of more hydrated decomposition products, whilst parts of the carbamazepine molecules were also integrated into the carbon structure. It was also found that the chemical composition, especially the degree of dehydration of the activated carbon, plays an important role in the adsorption of carbamazepine. Hence, it is thought that the adsorption sites may have a higher adsorption energy for specific adsorbates, when the activated carbon can then potentially increase its degree of graphitisation. KW - Aktivkohle KW - TED-GC/MS KW - Adsorption KW - Thermoanalytik PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-506946 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-63481-y VL - 10 IS - 1 SP - 6695 PB - Nature Publishing Group AN - OPUS4-50694 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Braun, Ulrike A1 - Bannick, C.-G. A1 - Bednarz, M. A1 - Herper, D. A1 - Knefel, M. T1 - TED-GC/MS: Schnelle Bestimmung von Mikroplastik-Massegehalten in verschiedenen Proben JF - Mitteilungen der GDCh-Fachgruppe Umweltchemie & Ökotoxikologie N2 - Zur Ermittlung von Mikroplastik-Gehalten in verschiedenen Umweltmatrices ist ein schnelles Detektionsverfahren für die Routineanalytik notwendig. Ein solches Verfahren wird hier in Form der ThermoExtraktion/Desorption-GasChromatographie/ MassenSpektroskopie (TED-GC/MS) vorgestellt. Neben grundlegenden verfahrensspezifischen Erläuterungen zur Identifizierung und Quantifizierung von Mikroplastik werden auch exemplarische Beispiele aus unterschiedlichen Umweltkompartimenten und Produkten dargestellt. Neu vorgestellt wird ein neues Verfahren zur Analytik von Flaschenwasser. Dazu wurde ein Messfiltertiegel entwickelt, der besonders für Proben mit geringen Gehalten an abfiltrierbaren Stoffen geeignet ist KW - Mikroplasik KW - Mikroplastik-Analyse KW - TED-GC/MS KW - Thermoanalytische Verfahren KW - Mikroplastik-Massengehalte PY - 2020 VL - 2020 IS - 02 SP - 55 EP - 57 PB - Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh) CY - Frankfurt am Main AN - OPUS4-50835 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dittmann, Daniel A1 - Lucke, T. A1 - Ruhl, A. S. A1 - Winzenbacher, R. A1 - Jekel, M. A1 - Braun, Ulrike T1 - Untersuchungen zu biologischen, organischen und anorganischen Veränderungen granulierter Aktivkohlen während der Trinkwasseraufbereitung JF - Vom Wasser N2 - Untersuchungen zu biologischen, organischen und anorganischen Veränderungen granulierter Aktivkohlen während der Trinkwasseraufbereitung des Landeswasserversorgers Langenau. KW - Thermogravimetrie KW - Trinkwasser KW - Wasseraufbereitung KW - Aktivkohle PY - 2020 SN - 0083-6915 VL - 118 IS - 2 SP - 47 EP - 50 PB - Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA AN - OPUS4-51434 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -