Addressing the challenges of microplastic characterisation using thermal desorption

In this application note, Markes International demonstrate the quantitative analysis of microplastics using direct thermal desorption (TD) combined with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Direct desorption of filtrates containing microplastics provides a simple and streamlined sample preparation step while GC–MS analysis produces informationrich volatile organic compound (VOC) profiles. The VOC profiles contain marker compounds to identify and quantify the plastic, along with other chemical signatures that could prove useful in source apportionment, toxicity assessment and regional profiling.