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An Untargeted Thermogravimetric Analysis-Fourier Transform Infrared-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Approach for Plastic Polymer Identification
- Source :
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- 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.
- Subjects :
- Polypropylene
chemistry.chemical_classification
Thermogravimetric analysis
Materials science
Fourier Analysis
Polymers
General Chemistry
Polymer
010501 environmental sciences
Polyethylene
Mass spectrometry
01 natural sciences
Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
chemistry.chemical_compound
South Africa
chemistry
Chemical engineering
Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
Environmental Chemistry
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry
Pyrolysis
Plastics
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15205851
- Volume :
- 55
- Issue :
- 13
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Environmental sciencetechnology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....5eed5fdd740c0961dc3e4602e5ecf148