Simulated marine respirometry of biodegradable polymers

Eleven microorganisms were isolated from several temperate marine locations in the northeast Altantic coast of the United States and one tropical location in the Pacific Ocean (Hawaii) for the purpose of developing a rapid and accurate method of screening biodegradable materials for their susceptibility to mineralization. The materials evaluated in this study included chemically modified starch, amylose and pullulan, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-valerate), (PHB/V), cellulose acetate, and a modified lignin/styrene. Some of the soluble, unmodified, biologically produced substrates such as starch, pullulan, and amylose mineralized rapidly. In general, the synthetic, insoluble polymers and the chemically modified polymers, such as acetylated and chlorinated amylose and pullulan, mineralized more slowly, although the ultimate mineralization of some of the substituted polysaccharides equaled or exceeded that of the unmodified substrate. The insoluble bacterial polyester, PHB/V, degraded rapidly after a short induction period. Initial respiration rate data, in general, could not be used as a predictor of ultimate mineralization. It was found that the cumulative level of carbon dioxide evolved signifies the minimum extent of biodegradation of the substrate, and the oxygen consumed is a good indicator of the maximum extent of substrate degradation.Paper presented at the Biodegradable Materials and Packaging Conference, September 22–23, 1993, Natick, Massachusetts.