1.4 Prozessanalytik
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A process spectroscopic approach for the monitoring of microplastics in environmental samples
(2018)
The potential of Raman and NIR process-spectroscopic as a rapid approach for the estimation of microplastics (MP) in soil matrix were tested. For this purpose, artificial MP/soil mixture samples consisting of standard soils or sand with defined ratios of MP (0,5 – 10 mass% polymer) from polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) were prepared. MP particles with diameters < 2 mm and < 125 µm were obtained from industrial polymer pellets after cryo-milling. Spectra of these mixtures were collected by (i) a process FT-NIR spectrometer equipped with a reflection probe, (ii) by a cw-process Raman spectrometer and (iii) by a time-gated Raman spectrometer using fiber-optic probes. The evaluation of process-spectra was performed by chemometric methods. Whereas MP could be detected by Raman spectroscopy in coastal sand at 0.5 mass%, in standard soil detection of MP was limited to 10 – 5 mass% with the large fraction, but samples containing particles of the 125µm mass-fraction yielded no positive result at all. One reason for the lacking sensitivity could be fluorescence by soil organic matter and thus, in a next test time-gated Raman spectroscopy was applied. However, although being indeed more sensitive to the small particles this method failed at MP < 5 mass% indicating that fluorescence was not the major problem. Finally, FT-NIR was tested. Depending on the polymer, MP contents of 0,5 or 1 mass%, respectively, could be detected in standard soils and polymers identified. Furthermore, this approach could be used for the investigation of mixtures of up to four polymers and in real-world samples from bio-waste fermenter residues.
The increasing pollution of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems with plastic debris leads to the accumulation of microscopic plastic particles of still unknown amount. To monitor the degree of contamination analytical methods are urgently needed, which help to quantify microplastics (MP). Currently, time-costly purified materials enriched on filters are investigated both by micro-infrared spectroscopy and/or micro-Raman. Although yielding precise results, these techniques are time consuming, and are restricted to the analysis of a small part of the sample in the order of few micrograms. To overcome these problems, here we tested a macroscopic dimensioned NIR process-spectroscopic method in combination with chemometrics. For calibration, artificial MP/soil mixtures containing defined ratios of polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, and polystyrene with diameters < 125 µm were prepared and measured by a process FT-NIR spectrometer equipped with a fiber optic reflection probe. The resulting spectra were processed by chemometric models including support vector machine regression (SVR), and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). Validation of models by MP mixtures, MP-free soils and real-world samples, e.g. and fermenter residue, suggest a reliable detection and a possible classification of MP at levels above 0.5 to 1.0 mass% depending on the polymer. The benefit of the combined NIRS chemometric approach lies in the rapid assessment whether soil contains MP, without any chemical pre-treatment. The method can be used with larger sample volumes and even allows for an online prediction and thus meets the demand of a high-throughput method.
Spectroscopic methods possess important advantages for the observation of bioprocesses: they are robust, gain many data within a short time scale, and allow for the measurement of multiple relevant information at the same time. Next to Near-infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy is increasingly applied as a powerful online tool to monitor bioprocesses. However, Raman spectra may be obscured by straylight, cosmic rays and fluorescence. To achieve the best performance, optimal conditions for spectral quality and stability should be pursued. This comprises not only the choice of highly-sensitive equipment, but also the way of implementation into the process. Here we compared the potential of introducing a sterilized fiber optical Raman probe, and a flow-through cell into the bypass of a stirred tank reactor to monitor an autotrophic cultivation of Ralstonia eutropha where gasses are the energy and carbon sources. Raman spectra were continuously recorded over seven days and 22 samples were taken for the reference analytics of biomass, optical density, and protein. In addition, data for of phosphate and ammonium were available. The quantitative Evaluation of Raman spectra by Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) yielded comparable results for both approaches, however, there was a general trend of lower prediction errors with the immersion probe.
The better performance of the non-contact optic may be either related to a more representative interaction of the measurement optics with the probe or simply to the absence of probe-fouling, which was observed with the immersion optic in the interstice between window and metal frame.