Let's find out by checking the water contained in a PET bottle using the electronic nose

The packaging of soft drinks and mineral water has passed, in a few years, from glass to plastic bottles for a series of important factors that have made this bottling system the most used in the world.

Around the plastic bottles , especially its primary material, PET , there have been developed support campaigns and campaigns of denigration among the most bitter, played between producers of soft drinks, producers of raw materials, distribution and citizens.

The strongly discussed issues are environmental, on the one hand, claiming a sort of polluter license from the public opinion towards the producers of PET bottles, to due to the massive presence in the seas of disposable products.

It is obvious to everyone that the producers of plastic bottles have no part in this environmental disaster that is to be attributed to the final consumer, who does not care about give the empty bottle to recycling centers or arrange for its reuse.

On the other hand soft drink manufacturers have identified in the plastic bottle , by the way, today, consisting of one part of recycled material, a great advantage in terms of production costs, savings on logistics and a lower environmental impact during production than other packaging materials.

But there is another question to consider, and that is the relationship between the plastic bottle and its contents , the 'water for example, a relationship that is a solidarity marriage as long as the water is not used by the consumer.

During the permanence of the water in the plastic bottles , between the moment of bottling and the moment of its consumption, the bottle it can receive the effects of light, solar radiation and the increase in temperatures of plastic under the effect of the sun.

Any modification of the standard conditions of the plastic, heat, cold, light, life time of the bottle , which can modify the structure of the plastic, could be shared with the water contained that the consumer drinks.

How do we know if volatile elements that arise as a result of possible mutations in plastic are transmitted or not in the water? Not tasting it , as some substances that could be released may be tasteless, not looking at it against the light, because some substances may not be visible to the naked eye.

Today we have a small but very effective laboratory instrument , called electronic nose, which analyzes volatile elements in a scientific way some materials. By sampling portions of water contained in various plastic bottles, the test tubes are inserted into the electronic nose and, automatically, the samples are heated, creating volatile parts that are intercepted by a gas chromatograph (GC), which communicates with an ion mobility spectrometer (IMS) , which give us a three-dimensional examination of the volatile parts contained in the water, identifying exactly the quantity and chemical type of the compounds contained.

What shall we drink then? Water or something? The electronic nose will tell us

Automatic translation. We apologize for any inaccuracies. Original article in Italian.