Cross-Contamination as a Problem in Collection and Analysis of Environmental Samples Containing Microplastics—A Review

Aleksandra Bogdanowicz, Monika Zubrowska-Sudol, Andrzej Krasinski and Miroslaw Sudol
Additional contact information
Aleksandra Bogdanowicz: Department of Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment, Faculty of Building Services, Hydro and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, Nowowiejska 20, 00-653 Warsaw, Poland
Monika Zubrowska-Sudol: Department of Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment, Faculty of Building Services, Hydro and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, Nowowiejska 20, 00-653 Warsaw, Poland
Andrzej Krasinski: Chair of Integrated Processes Engineering, Faculty of Chemical and Process Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, Warynskiego 1, 00-645 Warsaw, Poland
Miroslaw Sudol: Department of Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment, Faculty of Building Services, Hydro and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, Nowowiejska 20, 00-653 Warsaw, Poland

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 21, 1-18

Abstract: Research conducted so far on the presence of microplastics in the environment shows that these items are ubiquitous pollutants and therefore constitute an inherent part of our lives. This constitutes a significant problem in many aspects, and one of them is the correct identification of microplastics in environmental samples. Environmental samples can be easily contaminated by plastic microparticles from other sources if proper precautions are not taken during sampling and analysis. The consequence of not taking this cross-contamination into account when analysing the results may be their significant overestimation. This review aims to draw attention to the problem of cross-contamination that accompanies the collection and analysis of samples for the presence of microplastics, and to discuss this issue in a comprehensive manner. The article indicates potential sources of cross-contamination, lists the mitigation methods, and describes the possibilities of assessing this type of contamination. Moreover, the review examines how cross-contamination control appears in practice, based on the available literature data.

Keywords: microplastics; microplastic pollution; cross-contamination; background contamination; contamination control (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/12123/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/12123/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:21:p:12123-:d:671028

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().