Ocean Scientific International Ltd (OSIL) has recently released a new Microplastics Sampler for the collection of water samples for the analysis of microplastics.
“Microplastics” refers to plastic particles smaller than 5 mm and includes fragments, films, pellets/nurdles, granules/beads, filaments and foams.
The Microplastics Sampler from OSIL is a large-volume water sampler that allows researchers to collect and characterise suspended and sinking particles in the water column.
The sampler collects 50 litres of water in a single sample and upon recovery the device remains upright on deck to allow dense particles to slowly sink to the bottom. The upper 5 litres can be drawn off to be sampled for positively buoyant plastics, with the next 40 litres slowly drained through a tap for neutrally buoyant materials. The bottom section of the water bottle, containing the remaining 5 litres of water and the dense plastic particles can then be disconnected from the main body. This lower section can then be analysed in the laboratory where the flat bottom of the chamber offers an excellent backdrop for photographing/ and or subsampling using a wide-bore pipette for further analysis.