Simple and Inexpensive Analytical Pyrolysis Apparatus

It is well known that synthetic polymers and copolymers are inherently difficult to analyze due to their high molecular weight and lack of volatility1. Although this may be the case, various analytical techniques can be used to characterize these polymers/copolymers. One of these techniques is Py-GC/MS. This is an analytical technique that uses pyrolysis hyphenated to gas chromatography with a detection system (i.e. mass spectrometry). Commercial pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry units commonly use heating via resistive filaments to pyrolyze samples for analysis2. This work describes the construction of an off-line pyrolysis apparatus that uses resistive heat and air sampling tubes for the convenient collection of samples for analysis via GC-MS. This apparatus uses common laboratory equipment and relatively inexpensive consumables. Data collected from the pyrolysis of various polymers is compared to data obtained from commercial on-line pyrolysis units