Simulating human exposure to indoor airborne microplastics using a Breathing Thermal Manikin

Abstract Humans are potentially exposed to microplastics through food, drink, and air. The first two pathways have received quite some scientific attention, while little is known about the latter. We address the exposure of humans to indoor airborne microplastics using a Breathing Thermal Manikin. Three apartments were investigated, and samples analysed through FPA-µFTIR-Imaging spectroscopy followed by automatic analyses down to 11 µm particle size. All samples were contaminated with microplastics, with concentrations between 1.7 and 16.2 particles m −3 . Synthetic fragments and fibres accounted, on average, for 4% of the total identified particles, while nonsynthetic particles of protein and cellulose…