The event was launched with the presentation “From macroplastics to microplastics: Challenges and Solutions for Analysis”, by Dr. Marion Börger and Dr. Andreas Kerstan from Agilent Technologies. They explained the causes of macroplastics and their path to microplastics, the occurrence of these plastic particles all over the planet and what detection options are currently available.
Dr. Marcus Lukas from the German Federal Environment Ministry then took over with his presentation “The latest news from standardization in the field of microplastics”, in which he presented the current legal standards. Among other things, attention was drawn in particular to the new standard ISO 24187:2023, which describes principles for the analysis of microplastics present in the environment.
Dr. Lars Hildebrandt and Dr. Tristan Zimmermann from LHZ analytics GmbH then took to the podium to talk about the “Validation and application of methods for the analysis of microplastics in complex marine water and sediment samples”. Using two field trials in the tropical Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, they showed which microplastic particles can be found in the oceans and how they were able to be quickly analyzed using the LDIR microscope.
The first half of the day was rounded off with the presentation “Microplastic detection using thermoanalytical methods: Analytics, reference material, interlaboratory tests” by Dr. Korinna Altmann from the German Federal Office for Materials Research and Testing. Among other things, she explained thermoextraction in the chromatograph and the production process of PET tablets as reference material in the laboratory and their advantages.
Gabi Gassmann and Freya Landgraf from the water company Magnus Mineralbrunnen spoke vividly about the challenges and the process of “Microplastic analysis in the mineral water industry”.
Dr. Wolfgang Wadsak of CBmed then took the helm and moved on from mineral water to the “Effects of microplastics on human health: Measurements, methods and models”. He presented the “microONE” project, showing the path of microplastics from food through the human body, their detection and possible risks for the human organism.
Dr. Axel P. Ritter from Agilent Technologies then gave the presentation “PFAS analysis with HPLC and the tiresome problem of solvent effects: Are there solutions?” In this context he explained the “forever chemical” PFAS, all of the places where it is found and how it can be removed from the analysis devices in order to reduce deviations in the results.
In the last presentation of the day, Jörg Hansmann from Agilent Technologies talked about “Measuring nanoparticles, microplastics and PFAS using ICP-MS – inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry”. Here he demonstrated the measurement procedure using ICP-MS, where the strengths of the measurements lie, but also which weaknesses still exist in particle detection.
We would like to thank all of the speakers and guests for an exciting day on the subject of environmental pollutants.
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