Detection of Brominated Plastics from E-Waste by Short-Wave Infrared Spectroscopy

In this work, the application of Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR: 1000–2500 nm) spectroscopy was evaluated to identify plastic waste containing brominated flame retardants (BFRs) using two different technologies: a portable spectroradiometer, providing spectra of single spots, and a hyperspectral imaging (HSI) platform, acquiring spectral images. X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis was preliminarily performed on plastic scraps to analyze their bromine content. Chemometric methods were then applied to identify brominated plastics and polymer types. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was carried out to explore collected data and define the best preprocessing strategies, followed by Partial Least Squares—Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA), used as a classification method. Plastic fragments were classified into “High Br content” (Br > 2000 mg/kg) and “Low Br content” (Br < 2000 mg/kg). The identified polymers were acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polystyrene (PS). Correct recognition of 89–90%, independently from the applied technique, was achieved for brominated plastics, whereas a correct recognition ranging from 81 to 89% for polymer type was reached. The study demonstrated as a systematic utilization of both the approaches at the industrial level and/or at laboratory scale for quality control can be envisaged especially considering their ease of use and the short detection response.