Studies on the Development of a Quick Inertness Test Procedure for Multi-Use PET Containers - Sorption Behaviour of Bottle Wall Strips

In this study, a relative simple inertness test which focuses in the interaction of PET bottle wall strips with a selection of model contaminants was investigated. The model contaminants were selected to include four different sets of chemical functional classes (set A, alcohol-type compounds; set B, ester/ketone type compounds; set C, hydrocarbon-type compounds; set D, chlorinated hydrocarbons). A simple gas chromatographic methods using flame ionization detection was developed to allow quantification of the whole range of model contaminants. Linearity and reproducibility of the calibration curves for all contaminants were excellent, which indicates the validity and efficacy of the proposed methodology. The sorption experiments with PET bottle wall strips showed that significant amounts of chemicals can be absorbed into the plastic material if misused, thus establishing a remigration potential in the bottle material after refilling.