Systems and Methods for Determining Recycled Thermoplastic Content

A method for determining a percentage of recycled polyethylene terephthalate present in a test sample comprising:

• selecting a contaminant from a plurality of contaminants;
• identifying at least one predictor analyses from a plurality of predictor analyses as being a statistically independent predictor analyses of a presence of the selected contaminant;
• predicting a percent recycled polyethylene terephthalate including:
• selecting a plurality of recycled polyethylene terephthalate samples, each one of the selected recycled polyethylene terephthalate samples including a different, known percentage of the recycled polyethylene terephthalate;
• analyzing each of the plurality of recycled polyethylene terephthalate samples with each one of a statistically independent predictor analyses to produce a plurality of recycled polyethylene terephthalate observations;
• and
• placing the plurality of recycled polyethylene terephthalate observations for each one of the plurality of predictor analyses in a corresponding plurality of mixed distribution logit-type models;
• identifying at least one set of best subsets of the statistically independent predictor analyses of percent recycled polyethylene terephthalate;
• refining a percent recycled polyethylene terephthalate statistical model to a final predicted percent recycled polyethylene terephthalate model;
• applying the at least one set of best subsets of the plurality of predictor analyses of percent recycled polyethylene terephthalate to a test sample having an unknown percentage of recycled polyethylene terephthalate to produce a plurality of test sample analyses results;
• and
• comparing the plurality of test sample analyses results to the final predicted percent recycled polyethylene terephthalate model.

A system for determining a percentage of recycled polyethylene terephthalate present in a test sample comprising:

• an analyzing apparatus including a controller, the controller including:
• logic on a computer readable medium for selecting a contaminant from a plurality of contaminants;
• logic on a computer readable medium for identifying at least one predictor analyses from a plurality of predictor analyses as being a statistically independent predictor analyses of a presence of the selected contaminant;
• logic on a computer readable medium for predicting a percent recycled polyethylene terephthalate;
• logic on a computer readable medium for identifying at least one set of best subsets of the statistically independent predictor analyses of percent recycled polyethylene terephthalate;
• and
• logic on a computer readable medium for refining a percent recycled polyethylene terephthalate statistical model to a final predicted percent recycled polyethylene terephthalate model.