Abstract
The ability to track & trace materials is a key feature in the entire chain, and it ensures circularity principles. Examples from plastic recycling show the enormous added value that analytical technology can have for the circular economy. During polymer production and recycling processes, pigments can be added for different purposes; e.g. as colouring agent of the polymeric product but also as tracer for tracking process development and control in the final recycle products versus possible by-products. An analytical method for tracking the pigment Solvent Blue 15 in input materials, in intermediates as well as in recyclates was developed by tracing and quantifying an indicator metal which is copper (Cu). Therefore, suitable digestion procedures and a quantification method by high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HR-ICP-MS) were developed and used for measuring the polymeric digests. The method was tested on relevant samples from chemical recycling processes. The background concentrations in base/raw material are in the range of 0.05 - 0.1 mg·kg-1 Cu. The processing concentrations are in the range of 4.2 to 28 mg·kg-1 Cu, while the pigment starting material (polyethylene, PE) has a concentration of around 50 mg·kg-1 Cu.
Highlights
The benefits of plastics, especially versatility, resistance and durability to degradation, are well known and led to the actual definition of “Age of Plastics”, where almost everything contains this material
Al-Qutob et al have developed a method for analysing lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), mercury (Hg), arsenic (As), selenium (Se), barium (Ba), and zinc (Zn) with Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), in toys [3]
Our study focuses on samples from the process of technological developments for the recycling of polyethylene
Summary
The benefits of plastics, especially versatility, resistance and durability to degradation, are well known and led to the actual definition of “Age of Plastics”, where almost everything contains this material. It is advisable to recycle plastics [2]. This is a need to implement adequate controls in the development of recycling processes and thereby control the process and guide. The background concentration in base/raw material is 0.05 - 0.1 mg∙kg−1 Cu. The processing background concentration is in the range of 4.2 to 28 mg∙kg−1 Cu. Methodological performance: Most samples show deviations of 10% to 15% in the duplicate results. Methodological performance: Most samples show deviations of 10% to 15% in the duplicate results This might be based on the inhomogeneous distribution of Cu in the samples; the use of lower sample amounts (as 130 mg) is not recommended. The use of higher sample amounts 500 mg is not recommended
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