This application note demonstrates Evolved Gas Analysis (EGA) and Multi-step Pyrolysis (MSP) with GC/MS on two different tea bag samples..
Introduction
Tea is the second most consumed drink in the world. According to the UK Tea and Infusions Association, over 60 billion cups of tea are consumed every year, and 96% of the tea-drinkers steep tea in a tea bag rather than brewing loose tea leaves. The common consumer misconception has been that the tea bag is made from filter paper and remains plastic free, until a recent media coverage by BBC News on research work from McGill University, which concluded that a single tea bag released about 11.6 billion microplastic and 3.1 billion smaller nanoparticles into the hot water1 .
Evolved Gas Analysis in conjunction with Multi-step Pyrolysis is a powerful tool set in identifying unknown polymer compounds. In this application note, two 100 µg of tea bag samples from different manufacturers were tested to unveil the chemical composition by a CDS Pyroprobe 6150, which is a multi-function thermal extraction instrument for GC/MS analysis.
Experiment Setup
Two tea bag samples, named W and C by their brand, were cut from center of the tea bag to avoid sampling in the sealing area where glue may be applied. Then each sample was further trimmed down to 100 µg before loading into the Drop-In-Sample-Chamber(DISC) tube for analysis. A fused silica transfer line was used to connect the GC inlet to the MS detector in the EGA run. A 30 meter long 5% phenyl capillary column was adopted in the Multi-step Pyrolysis. A ventfree adapter was installed to assist a fast switch between two columns without losing vacuum in the mass spectrometer.
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