Development of an optical technique for microplastic detection in water

Development of an optical technique for microplastic detection in water

Presenter(s)

Geoffrey Scott Campman

Comments

Presentation: 11:40-12:00, Kennedy Union 207

Description

In the last ten years, microplastic pollution has become a very salient problem in large bodies of water such as lakes or oceans. Therefore, study of pollution of that sort has become an area of interest for oceanographers and physicists alike. Present-day collection, detection, quantification, and analysis techniques are time-intensive, complex, and lack standardized procedures. One of the main drawbacks is that the water sample is collected and taken back to the lab for further processing and analysis, often using a form of microscopy. This all makes it difficult to observe the temporal behavior of the amount of microplastics present at a certain location. The use of laser beam propagation in the ocean for detection purposes has been studied in recent years. A novel pollution detection method for microplastics has been developed, which records laser-light scattering induced by said microplastics at multiple angles. A camera is added to the setup, which will be able to give an estimate of the size and shape of the microplastics. Measurements were performed in a laboratory setting using two types of microplastics; PET and PLA. The results showed that correlations between outlier scattering readings and average power of scattering can be used to determine the composition of plastic in a body of water. Furthermore, we believe that this method of detection has the added advantage of providing temporal measurements, as it can be performed in-situ and over a long(er) period of time. This could provide a more accurate understanding of the temporal behavior of the concentration of microplastics in a body of water.

Publication Date

4-17-2024

Project Designation

Graduate Research

Primary Advisor

Miranda van Iersel

Primary Advisor's Department

Electro-Optics and Photonics

Keywords

Stander Symposium, School of Engineering

Institutional Learning Goals

Practical Wisdom

Development of an optical technique for microplastic detection in water

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