Paperboard Chemical Migration Testing Standards and Simulant Selections
Paperboard chemical migration testing requires matching food simulants to substrate porosity, using Tenax for dry media and certified barrier qualification.
Liquid Chromatography Gas Chromatography Flame Ionization Detection
Analytical Technique
Coupled hyphenated analytical techniques isolate and quantify complex chemical mixtures extracted from paper and packaging materials. Online liquid chromatography gas chromatography flame ionization detection separates saturated mineral oil hydrocarbons from aromatic mineral oil hydrocarbons found in recycled paperboards and printing inks. The instrument system combines liquid chromatography clean-up with capillary gas chromatography resolution.
Solid phase extraction tools serve alternative offline separation functions in smaller analytical laboratories.
Hydrocarbon Separation
High pressure liquid chromatography fractionates pulp extracts by polarity to prevent lipids and waxes from entering the gas chromatograph. Under liquid chromatography gas chromatography flame ionization detection protocols, retained fractions transfer automatically via retention gap interfaces into capillary columns for thermal separation. This automated transfer prevents volatile fraction losses during sample handling.
Detection Limit
Quantitative flame ionization detector response depends directly on carbon mass flow, producing uniform sensitivity across diverse hydrocarbon structures. Testing via liquid chromatography gas chromatography flame ionization detection achieves detection limits below one milligram per kilogram of dry paperboard substrate. Chromatographic output presents broad humps of unresolved complex mixtures representing mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons and mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons.
Polyolefin functional barrier coatings reduce migration below instrument quantification thresholds. Non-mineral synthetic oils require specialized calibration standards for accurate determination.