DETERMINATION OF TOTAL VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS FROM POLYSTYRENE PACKAGING INTENDED FOR CONTACT WITH FOOD BASE ON TD-GC/MS TECHNIQUE

Abstract

In this study, the total volatile organic compounds were identified based on the technique of thermal desorption combined with gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (TD-GC/MS), and quantitative based on the area ratio to styrene. GC-MS method was validated with 5 compounds including toluene, styrene, isopropylbenzene, ethylbenzene, n-propylbenzene. The validation results show that the method has high sensitivity, repeatability, and reproducibility with MDL and MQL are ethylbenzene (2.07 mg/kg and 6.89 mg/kg), isopropylbenzene (2.33 mg/kg và 7.76 mg/kg),  n-propylbenzene (2.50 mg/kg và 8.33 mg/kg), styrene (2.26 mg/kg and 7.53 mg/kg), toluene (2.41 mg/kg and 8.03 mg/kg), respectively, the accuracy of method from 90.17 to 106.67 %. The method used to quantify 30 plastic samples on the market showed that most of the samples were found amount VOCs but didn’t exceed the allowable threshold according to Vietnamese standards (QCVN 12-1:2017/BYT). This study wishes to contribute an analytical method to control and evaluate the quality of polystyrene plastic packaging in contact with food, the results of the analysis recommend that may affect the health of the user.