4.8 Article

An Untargeted Thermogravimetric Analysis-Fourier Transform Infrared-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Approach for Plastic Polymer Identification

Journal

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Volume 55, Issue 13, Pages 8721-8729

Publisher

AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.1c01085

Keywords

mass spectrometry; thermogravimetric analysis; thermal analysis; pyrolysis; plastic; additives; plasticizers

Funding

  1. Leverhulme Trust [RPG-2017-377]
  2. European Commission [H2020-NMBP-2016-720952]

Ask authors/readers for more resources

The study utilized TGA-FTIR-GC-MS to create a library of 11 polymers and successfully identified plastic types in environmental samples, with PE being the most frequently detected polymer. Environmental variations may lead to polymer variations in South African samples.
Reliable chemical identification of specific polymers in environmental samples represents a major challenge in plastic research, especially with the wide range of commercial polymers available, along with variable additive mixtures. Thermogravimetric analysis-Fourier transform infrared-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TGA-FTIR-GC-MS) offers a unique characterization platform that provides both physical and chemical properties of the analyzed polymers. This study presents a library of 11 polymers generated using virgin plastics and post-consumer products. TGA inflection points and mass of remaining residues following pyrolysis, in some cases, proved to be indicative of the polymer type. FTIR analysis of the evolved gas was able to differentiate between all but polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE). Finally, GC-MS was able to differentiate between the unique chemical fingerprints of all but one polymer in the library. This library was then used to characterize real environmental samples of mesoplastics collected from beaches in the U.K. and South Africa. Unambiguous identification of the polymer types was achieved, with PE being the most frequently detected polymer and with South African samples indicating variations that potentially resulted from aging and weathering.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.8
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available