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Acceleration of Biodegradation Using Polymer Blends and Composites
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This review examines how blending biodegradable polymers with other materials can tune both physical properties and biodegradation rates, noting that many biodegradable plastics degrade far more slowly than claimed. The authors stress that biodegradation claims require rigorous validation under realistic environmental conditions.
Abstract Biobased and biodegradable polymers are used in bioplastics as blends or composites of various materials to tune their physical properties but also influence their stability with respect to biodegradation. Biodegradable polymers are often not as biodegradable as they are claimed to be, especially due to different degradation conditions in soil, water, compost, or in vivo. Mixing such polymers with faster degrading polymers (blends) or fillers (composites) is a powerful strategy to adjust degradation rates. This review selects representative examples of bioplastic blends and composites in applications, such as tissue engineering, agriculture, or packaging, with a focus on controlling/accelerating the biodegradation rates. It also focuses on strategies such as hydrolysis enhancement, attraction of microbes for microbial degradation, pore forming fillers, or increase of phase separation in polymer mixtures. A basis for the prevention of microplastic formation or unwanted side effects with too slow degradation rates of biodegradable polymers is set.
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This review provides an overview of how biodegradable plastics degrade under different environmental conditions including soil, freshwater, marine, and composting environments. It finds that biodegradability is a material property strongly dependent on environmental conditions, and that many so-called biodegradable plastics degrade far more slowly in nature than in controlled test conditions.
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This review examines whether biodegradable plastics offer a genuine solution to marine plastic pollution, finding that their environmental behavior depends heavily on specific conditions and that they may still pose risks in marine environments where decomposition is slow.
Enhancement and investigation of biodegradability of poly (methyl methacrylate) and poly (vinyl chloride) by blending with biodegradable polymer
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Researchers blended synthetic polymers poly(methyl methacrylate) and poly(vinyl chloride) with natural biopolymers to investigate whether blending could accelerate biodegradation, using molecular-level analysis to confirm that biopolymer incorporation enhanced the biodegradability of otherwise recalcitrant synthetic plastics.
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