Determination of antioxidants in polyolefins by pressurized liquid extraction prior to high performance liquid chromatography

The effect that a high amount of mineral filler might have on the extraction process of antioxidants from polyethylene and polypropylene was investigated. Extraction of Irganox 1010, Irganox 1076 and Irgafos 168, along with its oxidation product 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol, from freeze ground polyethylene–based (PE–based) and polypropylene–based (PP–based) mineral concentrates of 85 w/w calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) and 75 w/w talc was carried out by pressurized fluid extraction (PLE) prior to high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results indicate that 85 w/w CaCO₃ did not affect the extraction process from PE or PP. For talc concentrates, additive recovery from PE and PP was considerably lower. The relation of recovery yield and mixing time was investigated for the talc concentrates and it was concluded that the presence of talc seemed to accelerate the rate of antioxidant consumption during sample processing, thus, less antioxidant was left to be extracted from the polyolefin; rather than talc has limited the extraction process. The method developed in this work has been applied to determine these compounds in several commercial samples.