Improved characterisation of malodours from recycled plastics using TD–GCxGC–TOF

Originally presented at Pittcon, 2023

The poster entitled “Improved characterisation of malodours from recycled plastics using TD–GCxGC–TOF MS” was presented by SepSolve Analytical at Pittcon, Philadelphia, 18-20 March 2023.

The analysis of plastic has gained increased attention in recent years, due to the global push to move to a circular economy – meaning the increased use of recycled materials to reduce waste. Manufacturers are being urged to produce or use more post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastics, especially for food and beverage packaging.

PCR plastics require more rigorous quality control (QC) measures to ensure that they will not produce volatile emissions that could be considered harmful or have a negative impact on the packaged product (e.g., malodours). However, there are severe limitations with the existing methods used for the detection of odours from plastics, such as human sensory panels and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC–MS).

This poster illustrates how thermal desorption (TD) coupled with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography and time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TD–GCxGC–TOF MS) can address these challenges, by providing high sensitivity and improved separation of the odour profiles, prior to confident identification of the individual analytes.

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