Quantitative determination of olefins in pyrolysis oils from waste plastics and tires using selective adsorption by Ag–SiO2 followed by GC×GC-FID

Determination of olefins in pyrolysis oils from waste plastics and tires is crucial for optimizing the pyrolysis process and especially for the further advanced valorization of these oils in terms of the circular economy. Identifying olefins, even using high-resolution techniques like GC×GC, is challenging without TOF-MS, which allows modification of the ionization step. Currently, the only method for determining olefins in plastic pyrolysis oils is GC-VUV, recently standardized as ASTM D8519. However, TOF-MS and VUV are not affordable instruments for many research teams working on plastics recycling. This paper introduces a simple method for the selective micro-scale adsorption of olefins over AgNO₃/SiO₂, followed by the GC×GC-FID analysis. Olefins are determined indirectly from the loss of chromatographic area in respective hydrocarbon groups before and after removal. Only 50 μL sample and 15 min of sample separation are needed. Our method was extensively validated and provides a reliable determination of olefin content in a wide range of pyrolysis oils from plastics and tires and their products after mild hydrotreatment. It is affordable to all researchers and industrial companies working on plastics recycling by thermochemical processes as it does not require an MS detector.