Award for KWR presentation on the use of machine learning to classify microplastics

The research involves the use of a quantum cascade laser (LDIR) to record the infrared spectrums of various polymeric particles. More than 80,000 individual particles were studied. The machine learning paper was published recently by KWR researchers Xin Tian, Frederic Béen and Patrick Bauerlein in the scientific journal Environmental Research.

The presentation of the approach by researcher Frederic Béen at the 12th Micropol & Ecohazard Conference (6-10 June 2022) won the award for the best platform presentation.

Microplastics research

As a result of widespread plastic pollution and the suspected health concerns, microplastics research is a rapidly developing new scientific discipline. The Micropol 2022 conference is part of the IWA Specialist Group conference series on “Assessment and Control of Hazardous Substances in Water”. The aim of this series is to establish an international forum for discussion about the state of the art in scientific development and technical solutions concerning the emission, treatment and effects of emerging pollutants.

Boost for identification

The presentations and poster from the KWR researchers generated a lot of attention. Although work from experts is still required, the proposed method will lead to a major reduction in the effort needed by using the combined supervised and unsupervised learning models. In the future, the use of these techniques – deep neural networks – will boost the identification of polymers and microplastics.

Topics covered at the conference

Other important topics at the conference were: i) treatment at source, ii) monitoring & analysis, iii) fate & behaviour during wastewater and sludge treatment, iv) environmental & risk assessment, v) monitoring & control, and vi) prioritisation/regulation & public acceptance. In addition to microplastics, specific themes were biotransformation mechanisms, the fate