A Novel Sample Pretreatment Method for the Analysis of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in Polymers of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

A fast sample pretreatment method was developed to determine polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in polymers from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Polymers were firstly prepared into "polymer film" to facilitate a complete Soxtec extraction. Then, three extraction parameters (including hot plate temperature, boiling time, and rinsing time) were optimized based on the recovery of target in reference polymer samples. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of PBDEs in standard plastic materials from WEEE and the extraction yields of PBDEs ranged from 78.9% to 91.3%. The detection limits of PBDEs were 0.05-0.10 mu g/g, indicating this method can be used as a quality assurance and quality control procedure of PBDEs in the production of electrical and electronic equipment.