TY - JOUR A1 - Mueller, Axel A1 - Becker, Roland A1 - Dorgerloh, Ute A1 - Simon, Franz-Georg A1 - Braun, Ulrike T1 - The effect of polymer aging on the uptake of fuel aromatics and ethers by microplastics N2 - Microplastics are increasingly entering marine, limnic and terrestrial ecosystems worldwide, where they sorb hydrophobic organic contaminants. Here, the sorption behavior of the fuel-related water contaminants benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene (BTEX) and four tertiary butyl ethers to virgin and via UV radiation aged polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS) pellets was investigated. Changes in material properties due to aging were recorded using appropriate polymer characterization methods, such as differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and microscopy. Pellets were exposed to water containing BTEX and the ethers at 130-190 mg/L for up to two weeks. Aqueous sorbate concentrations were determined by headspace gas chromatography. Sorption to the polymers was correlated with the sorbate's Kow and was significant for BTEX and marginal for the ethers. Due to substantially lower glass transition temperatures, PP showed higher sorption than PS. Aging had no effect on the sorption behavior of PP. PS sorbed less BTEX after aging due to an oxidized surface layer. KW - BTEX KW - Polypropylene KW - Polystyrene KW - Sorption KW - Degradation PY - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2018.04.127 SN - 0269-7491 VL - 240 SP - 639 EP - 646 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-44990 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Becker, Roland A1 - Scholz, Philipp A1 - Jung, Christian A1 - Weidner, Steffen T1 - Thermo-Desorption Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry for investigating the thermal degradation of polyurethanes N2 - Thermo-Desorption Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (TD-GC-MS) was used to investigate the thermal degradation of two different polyurethanes (PU). PU samples were heated at different heating rates and the desorbed products were collected in a cold injection system and thereafter submitted to GC-MS. Prospects and limitations of the detection and quantification of semi-volatile degradation products were investigated. A temperature dependent PU depolymerization was found at temperatures above 200 °C proved by an increasing release of 1,4-butanediol and methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) representing the main building blocks of both polymers. Their release was monitored quantitatively based on external calibration with authentic compounds. Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) of the residues obtained after thermodesorption confirmed the initial competitive degradation mechanism indicating an equilibrium of crosslinking and depolymerization as previously suggested. Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry of SEC fractions of thermally degraded PUs provided additional hints on degradation mechanism. KW - Thermo-desorption KW - Mass spectrometry KW - Polyurethanes KW - Thermal degradation PY - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/D3AY00173C SN - 1759-9660 SP - 1 EP - 6 PB - Royal Society for Chemistry AN - OPUS4-57307 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -