Quantification Of Antimony In Brazilian Polyethylene Terephthalate (pet) Bottles By X-ray Fluorescence And Chemometric Evaluation To Verify The Presence Of Recycled Pet Through Iron Content. [quantificação De Antimônio Em Garrafas De Politereftalato De Etileno (pet) Brasileiras Por Fluorescência De Raios-x E Avaliação Quimiométrica Para Verificar A Presença De Pet Reciclado Através Do Teor De Ferro]

摘要

Antimony is a common catalyst in the synthesis of polyethylene terephthalate used for food-grade bottles manufacturing. However, antimony residues in final products are transferred to juices, soft drinks or water. The literature reports mentions of toxicity associated to antimony. In this work, a green, fast and direct method to quantify antimony, sulfur, iron and copper, in PET bottles by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry is presented. 2.4 to 11 mg Sb kg-1 were found in 20 samples analyzed. The coupling of the multielemental technique to chemometric treatment provided also the possibility to classify PET samples between bottle-grade PET/ recycled PET blends by Fe content.