Migration of styrene monomer, dimers and trimers from polystyrene to food simulants

Abstract

Migration experiments with polystyrene were performed in two-sided contact with n-heptane and distilled water as the food simulants at temperatures of 10, 24 and 40, and 40, 60 and 90 degrees C, respectively. The surface/volume ratios in the migration cell were set at 8.04 and 10.05 dm2 l(-1) for n-heptane and distilled water, respectively. Styrene monomer, styrene dimers and styrene trimers migrating to the food simulants were determined by GC-FID analysis. Heptane fully extracted the styrene monomer and the oligomers from the polystyrene sheet, whereas in the distilled water only the migrated styrene trimers could be detected. To determine the apparent diffusion coefficient, the migration process was analysed based on Fick's law. The higher the molecular weight of the oligomers, the more significant the reduction in the diffusion coefficient. Higher molecular weight oligomers also had lower activation energy of diffusion when the temperature dependence of diffusivity was analysed by the Arrhenius equation. The diffusion coefficient of the trimers was much higher for heptane contact than for water. The activation energy of the diffusion of trimers for water contact was higher than that for heptane.

Modelling migration from paper into a food simulant

“…Migration rates through a functional barrier depend on the thickness of the plastic layer, on the solubility of the substance in the functional barrier, i.e. partitioning between paper or board and the plastic layer and on temperature (Choi, Jitsunari, Asakawa, & sun Lee, 2005;Song, Begley, Paquette, & Komolprasert, 2003). The amount of substances transferred increases with the initial concentration in the paperboard (Song et al, 2003).…”

Migration of Chemical Compounds from Packaging Polymers during Microwave, Conventional Heat Treatment, and Storage

“…Determinations of styrene monomer in food and food simulants using GC techniques are common (Ehret‐Henry and others ; Lickly and others ; Nerín and others ; Choi and others ; Paraskevopoulou and others ) including GC/FID (Choi and others ; Paraskevopoulou and others ). For example, one study used a HP‐FFAP column for styrene (Paraskevopoulou and others ) and Rtx‐5 column for oligomers.…”

Review of Mechanical Properties, Migration, and Potential Applications in Active Food Packaging Systems Containing Nanoclays and Nanosilver

“…Phthalates are particularly concerning because of their link with endocrine disruption so some alternatives to these plasticizers have been developed including plant based derivatives obtained from soybean oil (Bueno‐Ferrer and others ), sunflower oil (Rouane and others ), and palm oil (Ang and others ). The migration of phthalates from PET has also been widely reported (Bošnir and others ; Schmid and others ; Pinto and Reali ; Bach and others ) as well as the migration of styrene from PS (Murphy and others ; Date and others ; Choi and others ; Khaksar and Ghazi‐Khansari ).…”