Adsorption of polyethylene standards from decalin on liquid chromatography column packings
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Updated: Sep 20, 2026

Extraction of Organochlorine Pesticides from Plastic Pellets and Plastic Type Analysis
Published on: July 1, 2017
Tibor Macko1, Harald Pasch, Joeri F Denayer
1German Institute for Polymers, Schlossgartenstr. 6 D-64289 Darmstadt, Germany. tmacko@dki.tu-darmstadt.de
Abstract:
Linear polyethylene and isotactic polypropylene standards were injected into columns which contained MFI (SH-300 and silicalite) or faujasite (CBV-780) type zeolites. 1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene, cyclohexanone, 2-ethyl-hexanol, decalin and tetralin were used as mobile phases at 140 degrees C. It was found that polyethylene is fully retained on zeolite SH-300 when decalin is used as a mobile phase. Moreover, polyethylene is partially retained on zeolite SH-300 from tetralin and from 1,2,4-tichlorobenzene, on silicalite from decalin and in a very small extent on zeolite CBV-780 from decalin. Using all other solvents, polyethylene and polypropylene were not retained in any of the columns tested. This is the first experimental observation of polyethylene adsorption from a solvent on a chromatographic stationary phase.
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