Pressurized liquid extraction and GC/MS determination of model contaminants in HDPE - Application to recycling of post-consumer polyolefins using limonene.

A pressurized liquid extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (PLE-GC/MS) method is developed for the quantification of seven model contaminants in post-consumer and recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Chloroform, toluene, chlorobenzene, methyl salicylate, phenyl cyclohexane, benzophenone, and methyl stearate were selected as model contaminants according to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommendations. The GC/MS method presented limits of detection (LOD) under 0.