Emission characteristics of volatile organic compounds from regenerated PET fibers based on the headspace gas chromatograph

Abstract

The emission behaviors of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can be characterized by the key parameters: the initial concentration (m0), partition coefficient (K) and the diffusion coefficient (D). The MHE‐GC method was validated to determine the emission characteristics of VOCs (Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, P‐xylene, M‐xylene, Styrene, and O‐xylene) in regenerated PET fibers. This work has studied the effects of fiber size, sample weight incubation time and incubation temperature on the detection of these VOCs. It showed finer fiber sample with less sample facilitated the emission of VOCs in fibers above detectable limit. The optimized headspace incubation time, fiber sample weight, and headspace incubation temperature were selected as 60 min, about 0.8 g and 110 °C, respectively. In addition, incubation temperature has a negative effect on the gas/fiber partition coefficient. The fibers with greater fineness showed higher activation energy, which revealed a positive release of VOCs from fibers. The relative standard deviation (RSD/%) of detection was 3%–10%. The present method is reliable and suitable for use in testing of the VOCs content in fiber‐related materials.