Original Tender Description
There is a growing concern about the widespread occurrence and abundance of microplastics (particles below 5 mm in size) and their unknown environmental effects. To date, there is no widely accepted protocols for the extraction and detection of microplastics in environmental compartments (sediment, biota and water). Cefas has developed a fast screening method for microplastics in environmental compartments but is currently lacking the capability for particle characterisation for the smaller sized items (below 500 m in size). This capability is required for the accurate investigation in microplastic concentrations and composition that is essential to assess their behaviour in the environment and the risks for biota and human health related to exposure. Tight deadlines to deliver national and international projects is creating an urgent necessity to process samples quickly to cope with the high volume. However, gains in time-efficiency in the data acquisition have usually resulted in a reducing spatial resolution. Therefore, the ability to rapidly process whilst maintaining accuracy and spatial resolution is a critical requirement for this application.
As a result, the marine litter team at Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory requires a 2x fully motorised micro-FTIR’s in order to carry out analysis on microplastics particles. The units will be housed at the University of Belize and Department for the Environment (addresses below) and therefore will required to be delivered and installed in Belize. The main objective is the quantification and characterisation of extracted particles onto filters from sediment, biota and water samples quickly, efficiently and accurately.