Recent research has revealed that microplastics can hinder plant photosynthesis, potentially reducing crop yields and threatening global food security.
Image Credit: Malvern Panalytical
From rivers and oceans to agricultural soils and even the human body, evidence of these tiny plastic particles is being documented at a rapid rate.
Concerns have been raised not only about their impact on ecosystems, but also about their potential effects on human health and food security. While studies are still in their early stages, the growing recognition of the scale of the issue has made research and testing into microplastics a vital area of scientific innovation.
Dr Jenny Burt, Senior Applications Specialist at Malvern Panalytical, explains that understanding the impact of microplastics is essential for gauging their risks to ecosystems, food security, and human health. Particle analysis and advanced detection methods are central to building a complete profile of microplastic pollution, enabling researchers to trace sources, assess impacts, and support innovation in solutions.
Size, Behavior, and Biological Impact
Microplastics, plastic fragments smaller than 5 millimeters, are now widespread in everyday life, found in personal care products, the atmosphere, food, and even human blood. While their long-term effects on organisms and ecosystems remain unclear, their prevalence is expected to rise, underscoring the urgent need for ongoing research into their detection, characteristics, and impacts.
The size of microplastic particles directly shapes their environmental behavior and biological effects. Typically ranging from 1 µm to 5 mm, they are distinguished from nanoplastics, which are smaller than 1 µm. Microplastics can be either primary, intentionally produced at small sizes, such as microbeads in cosmetics or fibers from clothing, or secondary, formed through the breakdown of larger plastic items like packaging, bottles, or fishing nets.
Particle size not only dictates how these plastics disperse, whether airborne, waterborne, or soil-bound, but also influences their interaction with living organisms. Smaller particles may bypass natural filtration barriers in the body, penetrating more deeply into tissues and potentially entering cells. This raises questions about potential toxicological impacts, particularly as plastics can act as carriers for other pollutants.
Building a Complete Profile of Microplastic Pollution
One area attracting particular attention is the presence of microplastics in water. This poses clear risks for drinking water safety and marine ecosystems, where ingestion by fish, crustaceans and other organisms could disrupt entire food chains. To properly study these risks, effective methods are needed to isolate, measure and identify microplastics in water samples.
The first stage is typically filtration, where water is passed through a membrane designed to capture particles above a certain size threshold. The pore size of the filter can be tailored depending on the research focus, whether targeting larger microplastics or smaller particles edging towards the nanoplastic range.
Optical microscopy is often used for initial imaging, providing valuable information about particle shape and size distribution. To identify the material type, vibrational spectroscopy methods such as Raman or Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy are employed, enabling researchers to determine the polymer composition. Light scattering technologies, including laser diffraction, also offer insights into particle size distributions within suspensions, particularly for particles too small to resolve under traditional microscopes.
Together, these methods allow researchers to build a detailed profile of microplastics present in water, including both their physical and chemical characteristics. This information is critical in understanding potential sources of pollution, pathways through the environment, and likely destinations, whether remaining suspended in water columns, settling in sediments, or entering the food chain.
Particle Analysis: Supporting Innovation
Particle analysis sits at the heart of advancing microplastics research. By combining size distribution data with polymer identification, scientists can gain a more complete picture of microplastic contamination. Such insights can help trace sources of pollution, inform regulatory frameworks, and shape policies for waste reduction and water treatment.
Furthermore, as detection technologies improve, opportunities for innovation are growing. Advances in automated imaging, high-resolution spectroscopy and flow-based particle measurement are all supporting more efficient, accurate and scalable testing. This progress will be critical in guiding environmental management strategies and in protecting both ecosystems and human health.
Dr Jenny Burt, Senior Applications Specialist at Malvern Panalytical, says:
“Microplastics represent one of the most complex environmental challenges of our time. Their prevalence in water, food and even the human body highlights the urgency of research into their detection and impact.
“Particle analysis offers a powerful set of tools to support this endeavor, providing the insights needed to track microplastics, understand their risks, and develop solutions.
“Malvern Panalytical, a partner in the Netherlands-based MOMENTUM project, has contributed to advancing microplastics research aimed at reducing health risks from exposure. The project recently published a roadmap outlining solutions and introduced “microplastic passports” for toxicology study samples.
“The team utilised the Mastersizer 3000+ for rapid particle size distribution analysis and the Epsilon 4 X-ray fluorescence system for accurate atomic composition identification. These techniques and technologies are contributing to a greater understanding of how microplastics in water can impact human and environmental health. However, substantial work remains to be done.
“As the industry confronts the realities of global plastic pollution, investment in research and testing will remain indispensable for safeguarding our planet and future generations.”