Overcoming Key Challenges in Microplastics Analysis

Microplastics are becoming an increasingly important analytical and regulatory concern across the Asia Pacific region. While regulatory requirements continue to evolve, authorities across markets such as India, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand are placing greater focus on plastic pollution, environmental monitoring, method development and the generation of reliable data that can support future standards and regulatory decisions.

For laboratories, this creates a growing need for analytical workflows that can provide reliable particle identification, characterization and reporting across increasingly complex sample types.

Join this webinar to understand the key analytical challenges in microplastics testing, the evolving regulatory landscape across APAC, and the implications for laboratory preparedness.

The session will focus on the Agilent microplastics workflow using Laser Direct Infrared (LDIR) chemical imaging, covering the analytical journey from sample preparation and contamination control through automated particle detection, polymer identification, sizing and classification. Learn how LDIR can help simplify microplastics analysis while supporting greater consistency, efficiency and confidence in the results.

Learning Outcomes

By attending this webinar, you will learn how to:

• Understand the evolving microplastics regulatory and monitoring landscape across APAC, and what it could mean for analytical methods, data quality and laboratory preparedness.
• Address key challenges in microplastics analysis, including complex samples, contamination control and reliable particle identification.
• Apply LDIR-based workflows for microplastics characterization, including automated particle detection, polymer identification, sizing and classification.
• Build a more efficient and consistent analytical workflow for microplastics testing across environmental, water, food and other complex sample types.

Who Should Attend

• Scientists, laboratory managers, researchers and QA/QC teams involved in microplastics analysis, environmental monitoring, water testing, food testing and materials characterization.
• The webinar is also relevant for contract testing laboratories, regulatory and government laboratories, academic and research institutions, and organizations establishing or expanding microplastics testing capabilities.

Presenter: Dr. Ruchika Sah (Project Scientist-III, National Centre for River Research, Wildlife Institute of India)

Dr. Ruchika Sah is Project Scientist-III at the National Centre for River Research, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, an autonomous institute of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, where she works within the flagship Namami Gange Programme. She established and operates the Ganga Aqua Labs at WII, an analytical facility built around ICP-MS, LC-MS/MS, GC-MS/MS and laser direct infrared (LDIR) chemical imaging, supporting multi-river ecotoxicological assessments for the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), the Ministry of Jal Shakti and NITI Aayog. She holds a PhD in Wildlife Science and an MS in Environmental Toxicology, with over twelve years of research experience across WII, ICMR and CSIR institutes. Her work spans microplastics and multi-class contaminant risk assessment, source apportionment, freshwater megafauna conservation and science-to-policy translation.

Presenter: Mr. Radhey Shyam (Application Specialist - Spectroscopy • Agilent Technologies)

Radhey Shyam is an Application Scientist responsible for Elemental Spectroscopy Solutions at Agilent Technologies at Centre of Excellence (COE) Lab, Manesar. He has been assisting in the development of new methods and applications, as well as providing training and educational activities for customers across various sectors on spectroscopy solutions and technologies for the past 10+ years. He has authored several publications in international journals. In addition, he has also contributed to global application and solution notes from Agilent, with a focus on spectroscopy Market."

Presenter: Chee Ping Wong (Application Scientist • Agilent Technologies, Singapore)

Chee Ping Wong is an Application Scientist with 16+ years of experience supporting Molecular Spectroscopy solutions, specializing in FT-IR, Raman and UV-Vis/UV-Vis-NIR technologies. He regularly presents product capabilities to customers to enhance awareness of Agilent Molecular Spectroscopy solutions, as well as developing tailored applications. He also handles post-sales application support, addressing technical issues through online, phone, and on-site assistance, and providing training and instrument demonstrations. Acting as the customer voice, he contributes feedback to R&D and influences product quality and design improvements.