Effect of Temperature on Antimony Leaching from Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETE) into Bottled Water

Abstract

In this research, the level of the heavy metal antimony (Sb) was assessed in seven PETE-bottled water brands, representing major producing firms in Jeddah city. On the same day samples brought from local superstores, each sample underwent 4-replicate analysis (as time-zero Sb level). Soon after analysis, bottles of each brand were tightly closed, divided into three subsets, stored for 2 months (23°C, 5°C, 50°C, respectively), then re-analyzed. ICP-OES was used for analysis. Sb ranged from 0.100 (time-zero) to 1.664-µg l-1. Compared with time-zero level, significant (p ? 0.05) effects of temperature on Sb level were observed. Reactivity to elevated temperature indicated a significant variation between some brands at 50° C. Although the outcomes of this study indicate that Sb levels increase with elevated temperature, such levels are well below the international MCLs, and are unlikely to exceed them under the standard storage conditions.