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Latest Trends in Pyrolysis Gas Chromatography for Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis of Plastics

Analytical Sciences 2020 42 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Shogo Kumagai, Toshiaki Yoshioka

Summary

Researchers review advances in pyrolysis-gas chromatography (Py-GC), a technique that thermally breaks down polymers for rapid chemical analysis, covering its applications in identifying microplastics in environmental samples, characterizing polymer microstructure, and screening conditions for converting plastic waste back into chemical feedstocks.

Pyrolysis is considered to be a promising method for polymer characterization (in the field of analytical pyrolysis) and for chemical feedstock recovery from plastic wastes (in the field of applied pyrolysis) because it can decompose any polymeric material into smaller molecules by applying heat alone in an inert atmosphere. Pyrolysis-gas chromatography (Py-GC) involves pyrolyzing polymeric materials in a micropyrolyzer and a subsequent direct GC analysis of pyrolyzates. Py-GC has immense potential for applications in the fields of both analytical and applied pyrolysis, as it allows for rapid and accurate analysis of pyrolyzates. This is beneficial for elucidating microstructure and composition of polymers and for a rapid screening of pyrolysis conditions for designing feedstock recycling processes. In this review, we examined the latest research trends in Py-GC applications for polymer characterization, analysis of plastics in the environment, and chemical feedstock recovery from plastics.

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