Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO)


Print Feedback Export to File
6620272 
Journal Article 
Rapid classification of virgin and recycled EPS containers by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics 
Song, X; Lin, Q; Zhang, Y; Li, Z; Zeng, Yu; Chen, Z; , 
2018 
1 
Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A, Chemistry, Analysis, Control, Exposure & Risk Assessment
ISSN: 1944-0049
EISSN: 1944-0057 
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD 
ABINGDON 
35 
11 
2220-2229 
English 
30303757 
WOS:000451538900014 
A rapid and sensitive method for classification of virgin and recycled expanded polystyrene (EPS) food containers was developed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and chemometrics. This method includes preparing a transparent film by dissolution, examining by FTIR and developing classification models. The degradation of EPS containers occurring during the recycling process was reflected by the carbonyl region of the infrared spectrum which was used as variables for multivariate data analysis. PCA was used to reduce the data dimension and view the sample similarities. Soft independent modelling of class analogy (SIMCA), partial least squares-discrimination analysis (PLS-DA) and linear discrimination analysis (LDA) were applied to construct three classification models. The best discrimination results were obtained by an LDA model, with all samples correctly classified. PLS-DA and SIMCA could not classify the recycled EPS samples with low levels of adulteration. When applying this method to commercially available EPS containers, about 45% of samples were shown to contain recycled polystyrene resins. It is concluded that the carbonyl region of the infrared spectra coupled with chemometrics could be a powerful tool for the classification of virgin and recycled EPS food containers.