Migration of styrene and ethylbenzene from virgin and recycled expanded polystyrene containers and discrimination of these two kinds of polystyrene by principal component analysis

ABSTRACT

The migration of styrene and ethylbenzene from virgin and recycled expanded polystyrene (EPS) containers into isooctane was investigated using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). EPS containers were in two-sided contact with isooctane at temperatures of 25 and 40°C. It was shown that recycled EPS gave greater migration ratios compared with virgin EPS, which indicated that styrene and ethylbenzene migrated more easily from recycled EPS. In addition, an analytical method to distinguish between virgin and recycled EPS containers was established by GC-MS followed by principal component analysis (PCA). The relative peak area of the identified compounds was used as input data for PCA. Distinct separation between virgin and recycled EPS was achieved on a score plot. Extension of this method to other plastics may be of great interest for recycled plastics identification.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Migration
• styrene
• ethylbenzene
• recycled polystyrene
• GC-MS
• principal component analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 21277085], the Research Funding Program of General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, China [grant number 2015IK259], and Jinan University’s Scientific Research Creativeness Cultivation Project for Outstanding Undergraduates Recommended for Postgraduate Study.