Raman Spectral Library for Thermally Aged Microplastics from Waste Incineration

A spectral library of eight representative plastics captured during thermal transformation using in situ Raman spectroscopy. The identification framework elevated the median spectral matching degree from 47 to 91% and reduced unassigned spectra by 76%. The dataset, created by Ting Su and last updated in April 2026, provides a framework for identifying aged microplastics from waste-to-energy incineration.

Use Cases

• Training polymer classification models based on spectral signatures of thermally aged plastics.
• Validating identification frameworks for microplastics exposed to high-temperature conditions.
• Estimating environmental emissions of microplastics based on spectral data from flue gas samples.
• Studying the spectral evolution of polymers during thermal transformation.

Strengths

• Contains spectral data for eight representative plastics, providing a basis for comparison.
• The developed framework improved median spectral matching from 47% to 91%.
• Application to real flue gas samples identified over 89% of emitted MPs as thermally transformed derivatives.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect bias inherent to the specific industrial grate furnace incinerator studied.

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Data was gathered using in situ Raman spectroscopy to capture real-time spectral evolution of plastics during thermal transformation.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 18:05:08; freshness should be verified.