Environmental assessment of biodegradable multilayer film derived from carbohydrate polymers

Multilayer films exhibit excellent properties for food packaging. However, existing products are not biodegradable. Conventional plastics, manufactured from fossil fuels, not only consume non-renewable and finite resources, but also impact heavily on waste disposal. For this reason, a new multilayer film has been developed in the Multibio Project for the production of food packaging. In this paper, the environmental impacts of the new biodegradable multilayer film—based on modified starch and polylactic acid (PLA)—and those of the conventional multilayer film—based on PP and PA6—are quantified in the categories of climate change, fossil fuel depletion, acidification and eutrophication. Conventional multilayer film has a 90% higher impact than the Multibio multilayer film. The main difference between the LCA presented and the cited literature is the inventory data obtained in the phase of polymer processing to obtain multilayer film, and the assessment of the disposal phase of the multilayer film wastes.     

Large-scale production of poly(3-hydroxyvaleric acid) by fermentation ofChromobacterium violaceum,processing, and characterization of the homopolyester

A fed-batch process was developed, which allowed biotechnological production of the homopolyester poly(3-hydroxyvaleric acid) [poly(3HV)], in a mineral salts medium containing valeric acid as carbon source and complex nutrients as supplements byChromobacterium violaceum at a 10- and 300-L fermentation scale. This process yielded up to 40 g dry cell matter per L fermentation broth, and the cells contained up to 70% (w/w) poly(3HV). Poly(3HV), which was extracted from the cells with chloroform and was precipitated from this solvent with ethanol, was processed to test bars by injection molding or by press processing and to fibers by melt spinning. The unprocessed and processed poly(3HV) material was characterized with respect to the molecular weight and with respect to thermal, rheological, and mechanical properties. It was shown that it is possible to process biodegradable poly(3HV) thermoplastically and to obtain a polymer suitable for applications with low strength requirements.     

An Overview on the Mechanical Behaviour of Biodegradable Agricultural Films

The mechanical behavior of various types of biodegradable materials depends, mainly, on their chemical composition and the application conditions. Various additives are added into the bioblends to improve their properties, which sometimes even reach the levels of the conventional plastics. It is well known that the environmental conditions during production, storage, and usage of these materials influence their mechanical properties. Ageing during the useful lifetime also causes great losses in the elongation. In the present paper, the overall mechanical behavior of biodegradable films, which may be considered suitable for agricultural applications, but also of partially biodegradable films, is reviewed and analyzed. Selected critical mechanical properties of films before their exposure to biodegradation are investigated and compared against those of conventional agricultural films.     

Biodegradable Soy-Based Plastics: Opportunities and Challenges

Today's plastics are designed with little consideration for their ultimate disposability or the effect of the resources (feedstocks) used in making them. This has resulted in mounting worldwide concerns over the environmental consequences of such materials when they enter the mainstream after their intended uses. This led to the concept of designing and engineering new biodegradable materials–materials that have the performance characteristics of today's materials but that undergo biodegradation along with other organic waste to soil humic materials. Hence, the production of biodegradable materials from annually renewable agricultural feedstocks has attracted attention in recent years. Agricultural materials such as starches and proteins are biodegradable and environmentally friendly. Soybean is a good candidate for manufacturing a large number of chemicals, including biodegradable plastics, as it is abundantly available and cheap. Soy protein concentrate, isolate, or flakes could be compounded with synthetic biodegradable plastics such as polycaprolactone or poly (lactic acid) to make molded products or edible films or shopping bags and make the environment cleaner and greener.     

Effects of higher-order structure of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) on its biodegradation. II. Effects of crystal structure on microbial degradation

As one of a series of studies concerning the relationship between the higher-order structure and the biodegradability of a biodegradable plastic, the effects of the crystal structure of the plastic on microbial degradation were investigated. Bacterial poly(d-(–)-3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) films which had a wide range of crystallinity were prepared by the melt-quenching method. Results of the microbial degradation indicated that the development of crystallinity evidently depressed the microbial degradability. From scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations, it is suggested that the microbial degradation proceeded in at least two manners. One was preferential degradation of the amorphous region leaving the crystalline lamellae intact, which was considered to be a homogeneous enzymatic degradation over the surface. The other was nonpreferential spherical degradation on the surface. The SEMs indicate that the spherical holes were the result of colonization by degrading bacteria. The holes varied in size and number with the change of crystal structure. Therefore, it is considered that the crystal structure of PHB also influenced the physiological behavior of the degrading bacteria on the PHB surface.     

A Method for Measuring Degradation of Individual Components in Multicomponent Biodegradable Plastics by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry

A new chemometric method based on Beer's law was derived that uses peak ratios from Fourier transform infrared spectra of neat polymers and their composite plastics to quantify degradation of the individual polymers after biodegradation. The method affords direct measurement of polymer concentrations and weight losses without prior calibration against known composites. Unlike traditional chemometric methods, this method does not require sampling of as many or more different composites as the number of polymers in the composite being analyzed. When the neat polymer spectra are known, only two measurements, one before and one after biodegradation, are needed. A potentially major advance is that the method allows automation of analytical infrared wavelength selection by computer from all possible wavelength combinations. In this paper, the theoretical basis and derivation of the mathematical model for multicomponent systems is presented. The validity of the model was proved initially by applying the method to simulated two-polymer and three-polymer composites and finally by comparing test results with known samples of biodegradable composites prepared in the laboratory. Potential future development of the method for more challenging multicomponent plastics is discussed.     

Mechanical Performance and Design Criteria of Biodegradable Low-tunnel Films

The overall mechanical behaviour of a series of experimental Mater-Bi made thin low-tunnel films is analysed with respect to the effect of two major factors: the film processing optimisation during manufacturing and the design of the low-tunnels structural system. The analysis of the mechanical behaviour of the biodegradable low-tunnel films, based on the results of extensive full-scale and small-scale experiments, combined with laboratory testing of the mechanical properties of the film, proves that a rather good mechanical behaviour is possible for these films, comparable to the behaviour of conventional agricultural films in terms of strength, provided that two criteria are met: (a) the low tunnel structural design is based on the initial stress at yield value of the film, which represents the asymptotic value of the tensile strength of the film, following its evolution with the time of exposure to real field conditions; (b) the processing of the film is optimised for the particular biodegradable material and film thickness under consideration. It is also confirmed that the stabilisation schemes used with conventional polyethylene films are not suitable for the biodegradable films.

A screening model for fate and transport of biodegradable polyesters in soil

A numerical model for predicting the fate and transport of biodegradable polyester residues in soil, following successive applications of mulch film, was developed and applied. The polymer, applied on surface soil, was assumed to be converted into by-products (monomers), according to a first order kinetics with constant K(1deg). The monomers released were assumed to sorb on soil organic matter (according to a first-order kinetics with constant K(s)), to be leached with the seepage water, through vertical advection and hydrodynamic dispersion, and biodegraded (according to a first-order kinetics with constant K(b)). Results suggested that, to assess a possible build-up of mulch film (as a polymer) on the surface soil, the degradation constant K(1deg) relating the polymer conversion to by-products should be known, whereas the biodegradation constant K(b) indicates there is no danger of groundwater pollution. Likewise, on the basis of by-product concentration in deep soil, soil pollution should not occur.     

Degradation of greenhouse twines derived from natural fibers and biodegradable polymer during composting

Commercial composting operations generally do not accept organic wastes with plastic twines from the greenhouse vegetable industry and the bulk of the waste materials ends up in landfills. The objectives of this paper are to identify environmentally compatible substitutes that could replace the current use of petrochemically derived plastic twines in greenhouse vegetable production, thus diverting them from landfills, and to assess the extent of their degradation via composting. Physical properties of the twines, including linear density, percent weight loss and tensile strength were monitored for the biodegradation tests. A pilot-scale composting trial was conducted in an in-vessel composting system. Results showed that the three biodegradable twine materials (cotton, jute and EcoPLA) could degrade readily in a composting environment within a reasonable time frame. Specifically, at the end of 105 days of composting, 85.3%, 84.8% and 81.1% of weight loss was observed for cotton, jute and EcoPLA, respectively. Furthermore, EcoPLA exhibited a slower decline in tensile strength with time, when compared to jute and cotton.     

自固定化微生物降解工业废水中的2-氯苯甲酸

经微生物自固定化的反应器启动快,只需1周时间COD去除率即稳定在86％以上,而接种一般污泥的对照反应器至少需4周时间才能达到该效果;且经微生物自固定化的反应器能够稳定地降解含易降解基质(葡萄糖)的混合配水,2-氯苯甲酸与总COD去除率均稳定在90％左右。对处理含单一基质和混合基质废水的膜生物相观察表明：二者差异很大,前者以球状菌为主,同时也有大量的短杆菌;后者主要以丝状菌为主,同时也有相当数量的球菌、杆菌。