Microplastics Research

Challenge

The UK water industry research group (UKWIR) have developed 12 Big Questions to tackle the key challenges faced by the industry, now and in the future. One of these is How do we achieve zero harm from plastics via our operations by 2050?

To answer this question, we need to understand how much plastic is present in the water that is abstracted, treated, supplied as drinking water, and then collected, treated and returned to the environment. We also need to know how we can reduce the presence of plastic at every stage, to protect the environment and the consumer, and to prepare for future regulation. Current microplastics research methods are costly and time consuming, therefore new processes need to be developed for efficient research.

Research

Microplastics research at University of Exeter is world-leading. To grow this work at pace, we have established a state-of-the-art ‘CREWW Microplastics Lab’, which will underpin and enable further ground-breaking work on microplastics at a scale to meet the needs of the industry.

The FLAIR project is trialling a rapid screening method to increase the speed and automation of microplastic identification and quantification to support microplastics research. The Fluorescence-based Analysis and Image Recognition (FLAIR) approach uses a fluorophore called Nile Red, which, when incorporated during sample pre-processing, exhibits good adsorption to plastic polymers. When activated by a powerful UV lamp, this fluorophore becomes fluorescent. By treating the pre-processed water or sludge sample on a specialised filter, high resolution images can be analysed using image processing programmes, providing a rapid, semi-automated method of quantification.

Research

Impact

The CREWW Microplastics Lab, and associated research programme, will enhance fundamental understanding of how microplastics contaminate our water systems. This knowledge will enable South West Water to lead the water industry in understanding the impacts of microplastics in the water system. This research will be critical to ensure effective regulations are developed, and to support interventions and policies that reduce plastics in the environment, to support the objective to ‘achieve zero harm from plastics via the water industry’s operations and activities by 2050’. 

Preliminary studies have shown great promise in reducing the time required for complete analysis of microplastics in samples, while providing better quantitative information (such as numbers and size distribution). The results will provide robustly tested standard operating methods and a comparison with alternative methods to build a better scientific understanding of the fate and behaviour of this novel pollutant type in the waste stream. This will allow SWW to deliver confidence and comparability of results for rapid screening to assess microplastics sources into the wate stream and the effectiveness of any interventions.