Ultrasonic Plastics Sensor

Microplastics are now ubiquitous in the environment, pose risks to both human health and ecosystem stability, and are predicted to increase in abundance. Microplastics are generally considered to be between 1 and 5000 microns. Smaller particles, those less than 25 microns, are difficult to filter out in water and wastewater treatment plants and are not easily characterized by current spectroscopic testing methods. Accessible ways to measure these smallest particles and fibers are necessary to ensure equitable access to clean drinking water and responsible effluent management. ​

Current measurement methods are incredibly precise and time-consuming, requiring very expensive equipment and hours to analyze one sample, as each plastic particle must be analyzed individually. To address these issues, AOS is building an ultrasonic sensor capable of detecting and characterizing the bulk abundance of microparticles and microfibers in water, down to the smallest size classes, at a fraction of the cost, time, and labor of existing methods.​

To learn more about the project, please read these recent articles in Open Access Government and Scientia. ​Please contact AOS if you are interested in partnering as we develop this sensor. ​

Acquiring a range of plastics in the size range range we needed proved difficult.

We resorted to making many of our own samples in house.

At this point, we have developed an ultrasonic plastic detector capable of testing water samples in nearly real time with sensitivity to plastics smaller than 20 microns.