NEW publication in Analytical Chemistry

The work from Miloš's postdoctoral stay at the Laboratory for Chemical Technology, Gent University, was published in the prestigious Analytical Chemistry journal.

We present the first chlorine-selective, quantitative, comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography method with atomic emission detection (GC×GC-AED) for the analysis of complex pyrolysis oils. This comprehensive technique enabled the selective detection and quantification of chlorine-containing compounds in five distinct pyrolysis oils derived from real polyvinyl chloride (PVC) waste and two from mixed plastic waste rich in polyolefins. Using this approach, 85–99% of detected chlorine compounds could be tentatively identified, and GC×GC-AED provided chlorine concentrations for each compound. The total chlorine content determined by combustion microcoulometry, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and GC×GC-AED showed close agreement (<5% relative variation), highlighting the comprehensiveness and analytical reliability of the optimized AED method. This capability establishes GC×GC-AED as a powerful tool for understanding chlorine transformation pathways and for improving dechlorination strategies in waste-plastic valorization by mapping chlorine’s fate throughout the process.

Feel free to read this work: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.analchem.6c01163