Identification of Virgin PET and Recycled PET by X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry

User Benefits

- EDX enables the identification of recycled PET. - Measurements are quick and simple, require no cumbersome pretreatment, and can be automated using a multi-sample turret. - The instrument offers excellent cost-performance and supports the detection of a wide range of elements.

Introduction

Establishing a sustainable circular economy is a major societal challenge, and recycling plastic materials such as PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plays a particularly important role in reducing environmental impact. Large numbers of PET bottles and molded products are used every day in the food and beverage sectors. To recycle these materials safely and reliably, technologies are required that can accurately identify their origin. In practice, however, appearance and conventional physical properties alone are insufficient to distinguish virgin material from recycled material, creating a need for a more reliable identification method. For rapid identification in industrial settings, a method requiring little or no pretreatment is highly desirable. In some cases, non-destructive analysis is also needed to enable subsequent application of other analytical techniques. This article presents a practical approach in which metal catalysts present in PET are detected by EDX (Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy) and used to distinguish material-recycled PET from virgin PET.

July 20, 2026 GMT