Detection of Microplastic Waste by Using a Novel Microfluidic System with an Integrated Object Tracking Algorithm

Over the last couple of decades, microplastics, MPs, have become a large focus for pollution evaluation and sustainability. Water has become increasingly concentrated with MPs due to waste disposal and degradation over time. This project's goal is to detect and distinguish microplastics from other materials using a novelty microfluidic design. Analysis was done using multiple novel microchannel designs and Polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS, microchips. An object tracking algorithm, OT, was used to observe MPs and record flow through the microchannel. Footage tested on the microchips with the OT found that the varying pixel area shows the deformation of a microplastic under the chosen parameters.