Microplastics Analysis for Surface Freshwater Systems: Improving Accuracy and Throughput for Industry Adoption

现代社会塑料材料的迅速增长和广泛使用，再加上不充分的回收做法，导致被称为微塑料的环境中积累了小塑料碎片。目前，对加拿大淡水系统中微塑料赋存的了解非常有限，特别是在加拿大西部。该项目旨在建立微塑料的出现与：1)淡水水质参数，以及2)埃德蒙顿市政区域内北萨斯喀彻温河(NSR)沿线的城市和工业投入之间的关联。这项工作产生的数据将有助于建立该地区微塑料发生的基线，并将直接衡量我们的行业合作伙伴--陶氏化学加拿大公司和InterPipeline的影响，他们运营着排放到NSR的主要塑料制造设施。该项目的一项关键成果是开发、优化和验证适合业界迅速采用的与地表水收集有关的方法；从这些样品中分离出微塑料；以及使用高通量技术对其进行分析。该项目与加拿大的塑料科学议程相一致，将提供关于淡水系统中微塑料的存在和类型的公正的、基于证据的信息。这项工作的结果将通过描述其环境影响的数据直接惠及行业合作伙伴，通过获得关于微塑料样品收集和分析的准确和高通量方法的知识而直接惠及环境咨询界，以及将能够获得有助于公共卫生政策制定的有用数据的各级政府和公众。

The rapid growth and widespread use of plastics materials in modern societies, combined with inadequate recycling practices, has resulted in the accumulation of small plastic fragments in the environment known as microplastics. The knowledge of microplastics occurrence in freshwater systems in Canada is presently very limited, especially in western Canada. The project aims to establish a correlation between microplastics occurrence and: 1) freshwater quality parameters, and 2) urban and industrial inputs along the North Saskatchewan River (NSR) within the Edmonton Municipal Region. The data generated from this work will help establish a baseline of microplastics occurrence in the region and will directly measure the impact of our industry partners, Dow Chemical Canada and Inter Pipeline, who operate major plastics manufacturing facilities discharging into the NSR. A key deliverable of this project is the development, optimization and validation of methods suitable for rapid adoption by industry related to the collection of surface water; the isolation of microplastics from these samples; and their analysis using a high-throughput technique. This project aligns with Canada's Plastics Science Agenda and will provide unbiased, evidence-based information about the presence and typology of microplastics in freshwater systems. The results from this work will directly benefit the industry partners through data describing their environmental impact, the environmental consultancy community through access to knowledge about accurate and high-throughput methods for microplastics sample collection and analysis, and all levels of Government and the public who will be able to access useful data for public health policy development.