Optimisation of the analysis procedure of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in plastic waste from household products

Abstract

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are one group of flame retardants used as additives in many household products, including plastic products. Determining the residues of PBDEs in household plastic products is required to control their effects on human health and leach into the environment after disposal. This study was conducted to optimise sample preparation conditions for analysing PBDEs in plastic waste from household products. The study results are given that the instrument detection and quantification limits (IDL and IQL) ranged from 4.19 to 28.4 ppb and 14.0 to 94.8 ppb, respectively. In addition, the method detection limit (MDL) and method quantification limit (MQL) were
the lowest at 2.20 and 7.35 ng/g (BDE 99) and the highest at 24.1 and 80.3 ng/g (BDE 209), respectively, while the recovery values for spiking samples at different concentrations ranged from 89.1 to 104.5%. The results of the method validation can confirm that the soxhlet extraction and solid phase extraction (SPE) techniques combined with gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS) equipment can be applied to determine the PBDEs in plastic waste samples.