Biodegradation and Physical Properties of the Polymer Blends Prepared from Cashew Nut Flour and Polyethylene-Based Waste Material

Plastic litters arising from polyethylene-based materials such as shopping bags, water sachets, bottles, medical wastes etc., are non-biodegradable and increasingly becoming environmental problems in the major cities of Nigeria. A possible solution is to enhance their biodegradation through addition of decomposable material. In this work, polymer blends were prepared via melt-blending approach, using polyethylene (PE), Cashew nut Flour (CNF) at a different weight percent mixing formulations. Dimensional stability test conducted revealed that the 70% PE and 30% CNF provided the best results. Thereafter, gum Arabic (GA) binder was introduced into the Polymer blend at various weight percent mixing between CNF and GA while keeping the amount of PE constant at 70%. Characterizations of the PE, CNF and GA polymer blends through Biodegradation by Composting and bench-scale stimulation methods, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) analytical techniques were conducted. The results revealed that the polymer blend i.e. 70%PE, 5%CNF and 25%GA presented the highest weight lost in the two biodegradation methods which are 52.9% and 57.89%. The FTIR disclosed that the composites have almost similar spectra and peaks in the same regions with little drifts. The SEM micrographs showed some arrays of broken parts, presences of some cavities and agglomeration of the matrices in the composites. However, the blend (i.e. 70%PE, 5%CNF and 25%GA) showed that the components are more evenly distributed and resulted in little agglomeration. The study revealed that polymer blends were prepared which provided promising distinct characteristics from the original materials and with faster biodegradation rate than pure PE.