Identification and Quantification of Microplastic in Sewage systems by TED-GC-MS

Over the last years, the number of publications reporting the amount of microplastic (MP) all over the world increased rapidly. But harmonised sampling, sample preparation and analysis strategies are missing. Commonly used methods are very time consuming and not comparable to each other. Hence, quantitative data, including identification and mass contents of the polymers found, are missing. This leads to a lack of comprehensive understanding of MP occurrence, source and entry pathways into the environment. We developed the thermoanalytical method TED-GC-MS as a fast screening method for MP analysis. Solid residues of water samples are heated up to 600 °C under a N2 atmosphere, collected decomposition gases are sepa¬rated in a gas chromatography system and detected in a mass spectrometer without any sample prepa¬ration. Mass contents of the identified polymers can be calculated. In this presentation we will show first results from influent and effluent of the waste water treatment plant Kaiserslautern and its combined sewage system as possibly entry pathway. In order to determine the relevance of waste water split streams analysis of grey water will be conducted. Samples are fractionally filtered by a sieve cascade with mesh sizes of 500, 100, 50 and 10 µm.