Low-cost and sensitive chemiluminescence detection of phthalates in environment by signal sensing of carbon-based materials from PVC/coal gangue dechlorination.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The detection of plasticizers in the environment is important to prevent environmental risks and people's health hazards. Improving recycling efficiency of waste PVC still faced challenges. RESULTS: In this work, it was found that solid products from waste PVC/coal gangue dechlorination in subcritical water (dPVC) had strong catalysis activity for luminol-H2O2 chemiluminescence (CL) reaction. Phthalates, common plasticizers, could bond and adsorb on dPVC, which greatly inhibited the luminol-H2O2-dPVC CL reaction. Based on this, a low-cost CL analysis was constructed for the detection of phthalates combinations (PACs) and di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in the environment. The detection limit for PACs and DEHP was 0.048 ng/L and 0.13 ng/L, respectively. Compared with HPLC standard method, the dPVC CL analysis had accuracy and reliability for the detection of phthalates in actual environmental samples. Besides, the results of life cycle assessment (LCA) revealed that dPVC for CL sensing materials had significantly small global warming potential (GWP). SIGNIFICANCE: The use of dPVC for CL sensing not only improved the recycling efficiency of PVC, but also reduced carbon emissions of obtaining CL sensing materials.