Airborne microplastic detection and quantification - developing, evaluating, and applying novel laboratory and field-based approaches

大气中持久性聚合物磨损颗粒的积累是一个新出现的公共卫生问题。通常被称为“微塑料”，这个颗粒领域包括纺织品的合成纤维，塑料制品的碎片和道路交通的轮胎磨损排放。吸入暴露于高水平的可吸入和可呼吸微塑料与职业性肺病1有关，最近，由于SARS-CoV-2大流行期间戴口罩的聚丙烯纤维脱落，导致上呼吸道刺激。目前还没有立法来限制或减少微塑料的排放，而环境颗粒物（例如道路交通）中聚合物磨损颗粒的比例有所增加。该项目旨在确定室内和室外环境中微塑料气溶胶的存在和数量。它将通过推进测量来实现这一目标，使用尖端的实验室仪器来识别来自不同城市来源的微塑料的独特化学示踪剂，并探索在现场测量的新技术。光诱导荧光（UVLIF）先前已用于识别组织中微塑料的存在，通过调整用于对生物气溶胶进行分类的算法，假设来自微塑料的强塑料荧光特征将在环境样品中检测到。该项目汇集了一个在微塑料，大气科学和先进的数据分析工具方面具有专业知识的主管团队。EPSRC领域：粒子技术和生物物理学

The accumulation of persistent, polymeric wear particles in the atmosphere is an emerging public health issue. Commonly termed 'microplastic', this particle domain includes synthetic fibres from textiles, fragments from plastic articles and tyre wear emissions from road traffic. Inhalation exposure to elevated levels of inhalable and respirable microplastics has been linked to occupational lung disease1 and, recently, to upper airway irritation due to the shedding of polypropylene fibres from mask-wearing during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic2. No legislation is in place to limit or reduce microplastic emissions and the proportion of polymeric wear particles in ambient particulate matter, e.g. from road traffic, has increased.This project aims to characterise the presence and quantity of microplastic aerosols in indoor and outdoor environments. It will do this by advancing measurement, using cutting-edge laboratory instrumentation to identify unique chemical tracers for microplastics from diverse urban sources and explore novel technologies for their measurement in the field. Light induced fluorescence (UVLIF) has previously been used to identify the presence of microplastics in tissue, by adapting algorithms used to classify bioaerosols it is hypothesised that the strong plastic fluorescent signature from microplastics will be detectable in ambient samples. This project brings together a team of supervisors with expertise in microplastics, atmospheric science and advanced data analytical tools. EPSRC areas: particle technology and biophysics