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Abstract
The main goal of this work was to develop and test advanced techniques for the instant identification of different type of polymers in post-consumer plastics. In order to accomplish this task, infrared (IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) and laser induced breakdown spectroscopic (LIBS) techniques were applied. The following six model plastics were identified in this study. Low-density polyethylene (LDPE), High-density polyethylene (HDPE), Polypropylenes (PP), Polystyrene (PS), Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) along with few randomly selected plastics waste such as water bottle and cap, water cups, yogurt container and coke bottle were studied. IR has shown the fingerprinting of polymer types present in plastics waste. The XRD analysis helps to provide characteristic spectral lines whose intensities vary with the type of each constituent polymer. The DSC method provided the different crystalline melting temperature, glass transition, and onset temperature for the peaks and the percent crystallinity data single out different polymers. The ratio of LIBS signals intensities of carbon and hydrogen atoms were employed for the finger printing of the different family of plastics. The combined use of IR, XRD, DSC and LIBS techniques yielded very useful and effective results for plastic waste management.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for providing the financial support through Research Grant No. AR-18–22 and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia for facility support. The contribution of Prof. M. F. Ali is gratefully acknowledged towards KACST project management.