Polyethylene Degradation by Electrochemical Oxidation Using a Nb/BDD Anode: Characterization of Products via Pyrolysis Coupled to GC-MS

Chromatograms obtained via Py-GC-MS, model Frontier Lab pyrolyzer (Koriyama, Japan) coupled with a GC-MSQP2010 Shimadzu gas chromatograph (Kyoto, Japan). For this purpose, 20 µL of the sample was deposited in a crucible and dried in an oven at 60 °C for 2 hours. Pyrolysis was conducted in an inert atmosphere at a temperature of 750 °C for 0.2 minutes. The pyrolysis products were immediately introduced into the gas chromatography system equipped with an RTX-5MS capillary column (30 m, 0.25 mm ID, 0.25 µm film thickness, with a 10 m guard column). The GC temperature program was set to start at 40 °C for 5 minutes, followed by a ramp of 18 °C/min to 330 °C, which was then held for 14 minutes. Detection was carried out using mass spectrometry in full scan mode for the MP fragmentation pattern and selected ion monitoring (SIM) method for the treatment samples, selecting the ions m/z 41, 43, 55, 56, 66, 69, 78, 83, 97, and 111 for quantification. Operational conditions were standardized, using helium as the carrier gas at a constant flow rate of 1.2 mL/min.
For the polyethylene pattern, the measurement were performed in a full scan method to correctly identify the retention time of each compound. To obtain complementary information about the results and how they were used, please find the paper published with the same title as this database.