Home > Community > How to determine the source of PVA: crude or plant-based?
Upvote

35

Downvote
+ Chemistry
+ Polymers
Posted by
Meg Osterby

How to determine the source of PVA: crude or plant-based?

Dave Young  Follow

It certainly would be possible to get an indication of some of the sources of carbon through mass spectrometry and through radiocarbon dating. For example, fossil carbon sources would have little 14C, sources predating the 20th century, e.g. older trees, would have more. Post-Atomic Age sources might have more yet, beyond that due to natural decay of 14C.

That said, it's a nice question, but are you prepared to pay for the analysis to have it answered? Perhaps your government might perform such testing to verify a claim of being "organically produced".

More

Upvote

VOTE

Downvote
Gayle Watts  Follow
This is actually a well-known technique for testing whether drinkable alcohol is made from industrial synthesis or fermentation.More
Upvote

VOTE

Downvote
Healthjournal Ming  Follow
Thanks, thats an interesting avenue to explore! And yes, Id be willing to pay for the analysis.More
Upvote

VOTE

Downvote
DugganDDS  Follow
I believe your suggested approach is described in "Determination of the Biobased Content in Plastics by Radiocarbon" by Quarta et al. (2013)More
Upvote

VOTE

Downvote
Marcelo Olivares  Follow
Hi Meg. Where you able to solve this doubt?I know the company betaanalytics has some carbon origin tests they can perform to understand if their origin is plant based or fossil.More
Upvote

VOTE

Downvote