Location: Budapest, Hungary
Date: First week of July 2024.
The dedicated and determined experts at the Budapest laboratory have already started the tests: samples were collected in a reliable location in the courtyard of the Eurofins Knowledge Center in Budapest. The collection containers were placed on a table in the courtyard of the facility and sample collection was monitored by the experts. Fortunately, the weather favored science.
Experts from the laboratories involved in the research have deployed in the open air at the same time, in urban environment, glass jars with a capacity of 2.5 L that were tinted to exclude algal growth and UV effects, each with a funnel of a given diameter, to collect mainly the sedimented dust and rainwater for a week.
A sample containing sufficient microplastics was collected in the vessels for the study over a time period defined on the basis of the literature. A funnel of standard diameter was needed to increase the collection surface area and to be able to compare the final results. Depending on the technique, the experts will determine the results in particles or mass/m2/day.
However, the sample is not the rainwater itself, but the settled dust, which can contain particles even smaller than 10 µm. The collected rainwater is first filtered from the sampling containers and then analyzed locally at the Eurofins laboratories participating in the study and in parallel by sending a sample each to the other participating laboratories.
The sediment filtered from the rainwater collected in the deployed containers is analyzed by the experts using different methods. At the Eurofins Knowledge Center in Budapest sample preparation is carried out by oxidation and density separation, and then the measurement is performed using all available techniques in the laboratory: FTIR, LDIR (Laser Direct Infrared), RAMAN, PYR-GC-MS, TED-GC-MS.
Of the samples collected in the containers placed in the courtyard of the Eurofins Knowledge Center, three are tested using this method.
Experts from the laboratories involved in the research have deployed in the open air at the same time, in urban environment, glass jars with a capacity of 2.5 L that were tinted to exclude algal growth and UV effects, each with a funnel of a given diameter, to collect mainly the sedimented dust and rainwater for a week.
A sample containing sufficient microplastics was collected in the vessels for the study over a time period defined on the basis of the literature. A funnel of standard diameter was needed to increase the collection surface area and to be able to compare the final results. Depending on the technique, the experts will determine the results in particles or mass/m2/day.
However, the sample is not the rainwater itself, but the settled dust, which can contain particles even smaller than 10 µm. The collected rainwater is first filtered from the sampling containers and then analyzed locally at the Eurofins laboratories participating in the study and in parallel by sending a sample each to the other participating laboratories.
The sediment filtered from the rainwater collected in the deployed containers is analyzed by the experts using different methods. At the Eurofins Knowledge Center in Budapest sample preparation is carried out by oxidation and density separation, and then the measurement is performed using all available techniques in the laboratory: FTIR, LDIR (Laser Direct Infrared), RAMAN, PYR-GC-MS, TED-GC-MS.
Of the samples collected in the containers placed in the courtyard of the Eurofins Knowledge Center, three are tested using this method.