Identification and classification of polymer e-waste using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LISS) and chemometric tools

Author(s)

Costa, Vinicius Camara ; Batista Aquino, Francisco Wendel ; Paranhos, Caio Marcio ; Pereira-Filho, Edenir Rodrigues

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Polymer Testing; v. 59, p. 390-395, MAY 2017.
• Web of Science Citations: 22

Abstract

In the recycling of polymer e-waste, there is a pressing need for rapid measurement technologies for the simple identification and classification of these materials. The goal of this work was to instantly identify e-waste polymers by laser-induced breakdown spectrometry (LIBS). The studied polymers were acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene (PE), polycarbonate (PC), polypropylene (PP), and polyamide (PA). Emission lines were selected for C (247), H (656), N (742 + 744 + 747), and 0 (777), as well as the molecular band of C2 (516), and the ratios of the emission lines and molecular band were utilized. Classification models, k-nearest neighbors (KNN) and soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA), were used to rank the polymers. Both constructed models gave satisfactory results for the validation samples, with average accuracies of 98% for KNN and 92% for SIMCA. These results prove the predictive analytical capabilities of the LIBS technique for plastic identification and classification. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/04688-7 - Development of spectroanalytical methods for direct determination of toxic elements in polymeric materials of electronic waste by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy
• Grantee: Francisco Wendel Batista de Aquino
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral