Expanding Capabilities of GC/MS Systems Using Vertical Furnace Pyrolyzer: Deformulation and Identification of Unknown Polymeric Material

We have developed a vertical micro-furnace pyrolyzer utilizing a free-fall sample introduction mechanism along with various functions such as temperature programmable heating. The vertical micro-furnace pyrolyzer combined with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) system has become one of the most powerful analytical instruments in various fields such as the characterization of synthetic and natural polymers, art dyes and materials, archaeological artefacts, soil organic matter, biological samples and use in general forensic sciences and in the modelling of pyrolysis processes of biomass and plastic wastes. A comprehensive approach to fully characterize and to identify unknown polymers in mixture or within complex matrices demands the use of an array of analytical techniques that provide complementary information. Evolved Gas Analysis (EGA-MS), Heart-cut EGA (EGA-GC/MS), Single/Multiple Shot Pyrolysis Analysis (PY-GC/MS) or Thermal Desorption Analysis (TD-GC/MS) are all appropriate techniques available from Frontier Lab and developed with in-house technology. These techniques produce fragments that represent the original material (markers) and that can be easily identified and associated to chemical structural information by comparison with stored data available in mass spectral libraries. F-Search is a database software specifically designed to characterize polymeric materials and additives from pyrograms and EGA thermograms. The core of F-Search is a patented search algorithm that together with specialized Frontier Lab. MS libraries, facilitates the characterization of polymers and additives. In this work the system design of the Frontier Lab vertical furnace pyrolyzer is described and the four main analytical methods explained. Practical applications recently developed will also be presented that include the analysis of a complex sample from the cosmetic industry (de-formulation approach to characterize commercial eyeliners), automotive industry (wheaterability of EPDM ), food industry (sugar fraud detection in combination with compound specific isotope analysis Py-CSIA)) and from new food package industry trends (additives in polylactic acid based bio-plastics).

Peer Reviewed