Biodegradable and compostable alternatives to conventional plastics

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website at the link below. Copyright @ 2009 The Royal Society.Packaging waste forms a significant part of municipal solid waste and has caused increasing environmental concerns, resulting in a strengthening of various regulations aimed at reducing the amounts generated. Among other materials, a wide range of oil-based polymers is currently used in packaging applications. These are virtually all non-biodegradable, and some are difficult to recycle or reuse due to being complex composites having varying levels of contamination. Recently, significant progress has been made in the development of biodegradable plastics, largely from renewable natural resources, to produce biodegradable materials with similar functionality to that of oil-based polymers. The expansion in these bio-based materials has several potential benefits for greenhouse gas balances and other environmental impacts over whole life cycles and in the use of renewable, rather than finite resources. It is intended that use of biodegradable materials will contribute to sustainability and reduction in the environmental impact associated with disposal of oil-based polymers. The diversity of biodegradable materials and their varying properties makes it difficult to make simple, generic assessments such as biodegradable products are all ‘good’ or petrochemical-based products are all ‘bad’. This paper discusses the potential impacts of biodegradable packaging materials and their waste management, particularly via composting. It presents the key issues that inform judgements of the benefits these materials have in relation to conventional, petrochemical-based counterparts. Specific examples are given from new research on biodegradability in simulated ‘home’ composting systems. It is the view of the authors that biodegradable packaging materials are most suitable for single-use disposable applications where the post-consumer waste can be locally composted.EPSR

New vistas in mass spectrometry for sequence analysis of natural and synthetic biodegradable macromolecules

Biodegradable polymers have become materials of hope for the future and knowledge on the relationships between their structure, properties and function is essential for prospective safe applications of such materials in the areas of human health and the environment. Examples are given of the uses of mass spectrometry (MS) for structural studies of biodegradable (co)polymers along with the use of multi-stage electrospray mass spectrometry (ESI-MSn). Specifically they concern applications of MS forthe characterization of natural biodegradable polymers and their derivatives, ESI-MSn in the synthesis of biodegradable copolyesters, MS for forensic engineering of advanced biodegradable polymeric materials as well as ESI-MSn for identification of selected biodegradable polymers on the way of molecular labelling.National Science Centre (NCN) Poland, University of Wolverhampto

Functionalized Synthetic Biodegradable Polymer Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering

Scaffolds (artificial ECMs) play a pivotal role in the process of regenerating tissues in 3D. Biodegradable synthetic polymers are the most widely used scaffolding materials. However, synthetic polymers usually lack the biological cues found in the natural extracellular matrix. Significant efforts have been made to synthesize biodegradable polymers with functional groups that are used to couple bioactive agents. Presenting bioactive agents on scaffolding surfaces is the most efficient way to elicit desired cell/material interactions. This paper reviews recent advancements in the development of functionalized biodegradable polymer scaffolds for tissue engineering, emphasizing the syntheses of functional biodegradable polymers, and surface modification of polymeric scaffolds. Significant efforts have been made to develop functional biodegradable scaffolds for tissue regeneration that can enhance cell function and guide new tissue formation. This paper discusses the recent advancements of functionalizing synthetic biodegradable polymer scaffolds, focusing on polymer synthesis, surface modification, and cellular response on these functionalized scaffolds.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92034/1/911_ftp.pd

BIODEGRADABLE POLYMERS

To prepare a biodegradable plastic, biodegradable materials such as starches and a non-biodegradable polymer such as a polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, or polycarbonate are treated: (1) under heat, pressure and reagents to break the polymers; and (2) by adding to them an oxidizing agent. This treatment forms and/or makes available reactive groups for bonding: (1) on the biodegradable material groups such as aldehyde or hydroxyl groups in the case of the carbohydrates and amine groups in the case of proteins and certain other compounds such as urea; and (2) on the non-biodegradable plastic groups such as aldehydes, methyl, propyl, ethyl, benzyl or hyroxyl groups. In one embodiment, plastic and starch are processed in an extruber by: (1) mixing a starch in a range of between 15 percent and 80 percent, an oxidizing agent and an agent to break up the starch and the plastics; and (2) subjecting the combination to sufficient heat and/or pressure to break the plastic into shorter chains and bond monsaccharides to monomers from the non-biodegradable polymer

Agro-materials : a bibliographic review

Facing the problems of plastic recycling and fossil resources exhaustion, the use of biomass to conceive new materials appears like a reasonable solution. Two axes of research are nowadays developed : on the one hand the synthesis of biodegradable plastics, whichever the methods may be, on the other hand the utilization of raw biopolymers, which is the object of this paper. From this perspective, the “plastic” properties of natural polymers, the caracteristics of the different classes of polymers, the use of charge in vegetable matrix and the possible means of improving the durability of these agro-materials are reviewed

Editorial: biodegradable materials

This Special Issue “Biodegradable Materials” features research and review papers concerning recent advances on the development, synthesis, testing and characterisation of biomaterials. These biomaterials, derived from natural and renewable sources, offer a potential alternative to existing non-biodegradable materials with application to the food and biomedical industries amongst many others. In this Special Issue, the work is expanded to include the combined use of fillers that can enhance the properties of biomaterials prepared as films. The future application of these biomaterials could have an impact not only at the economic level, but also for the improvement of the environment

Photo-oxidative and soil burial degradation of irrigation tubes based on biodegradable polymer blends

Irrigation tubes based on biodegradable polymers were prepared via an extrusion-drawing process by Irritec and compared to conventional pipes made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE). A commercial polylactide/poly (butyleneadipate-co-butyleneterephthalate) (PLA/PBAT) blend (Bio-Flex®) and Mater-Bi® were used. The polymers were characterized from rheological and mechanical points of view. Irrigation pipes were subjected to photoaging with continued exposure to UV radiation up to 22 days. The degradability in the soil of irrigation tube samples was studied. The influence of temperature and UV irradiation on soil burial degradation was investigated. A soil burial degradation test was carried out at 30 °C and 50 °C for up to 70 days. The degree of degradation was evaluated from the weight loss percentage. The degradation rate of irrigation tube samples based on Mater-Bi® was higher at 30 °C and was stimulated after 14 days of UV irradiation. Higher temperatures or UV aging encouraged the disintegration in soil of Bio-Flex®-based irrigation tubes. Furthermore, tube samples, before and after UV and soil burial degradation, were analyzed by Attenuated Total Reflection-Fourier Transform Infra-Red (ATR-FTIR) spectroscop

Durability of biodegradable polymers for the conservation of cultural heritage

The use of polymers for conservation of cultural heritage is related to the possibility to slow down or stop natural deterioration which, in many cases, corresponds to stopping the entrance of liquid water and to favor spontaneous water vapor removal. Unfortunately, hydrophobicity is generally favored by surface roughness and thus competitive with transparency. It is therefore important to find an optimal balance hydrophobicity, transparency and durability (especially to photooxidation). However, polymers typically used for applications in this field come from non-renewable resources and are not biodegradable. In this work, the mechanical, structural, and optical properties of PLA, PBAT, and a PBAT/PLA blends, as well as surface properties and water vapor permeability, were investigated before and after exposure to UV irradiation, in order to evaluate their durability and suitability for conservation of cultural heritage