The objectives of this work were to determine the biodegradability of starch/glycerol foam and of poly(butylene-adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT)/starch film using respirometric methods and also to compare these results with conventional polymers – expanded polystyrene and low-density polyethylene. A matured organic compost was utilized as inoculum and sucrose was used as positive reference material. Biodegradation efficiencies (BE) after 47 days were: 35% for sucrose; 34% for starch/glycerol; and 38% for PBAT/starch. Starch/glycerol and PBAT/starch presented BE statistically equal to sucrose, whilst both the conventional packaging used were not degraded (p> 0.05). Infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analyses showed that the microbiota rather degraded the starch over the PBAT in the PBAT/starch blend, and also that some starch remained intact in the internal polymeric matrix. This study verified that starch/glycerol foam and PBAT/starch film are highly biodegradable materials and may then be used to enhance the biodegradability of some products such as disposable trays and supermarket bags.
As águas residuárias de suinocultura apresentam características físico-químicas que variam de acordo com o sistema de higienização das baias, estádio de desenvolvimento dos animais, alimentação, condições climáticas, genética, entre outros fatores. No Brasil, o tratamento dessas águas residuárias, com elevada carga poluente, ocorre, geralmente, em esterqueiras e biodigestores. Na maioria das propriedades rurais, o destino final dos efluentes tratados é o solo. Pratica-se, portanto, o reúso de água na agricultura, que pode interferir na dinâmica de diversos poluentes no solo, como é o caso dos pesticidas. As águas residuárias apresentam-se na forma total e dissolvida, sendo esta a fração mais investigada atualmente na dinâmica desses poluentes. Neste sentido, objetivou-se utilizar a técnica de espectroscopia na região do infravermelho médio com transformada de Fourier na caracterização da matéria orgânica total e dissolvida proveniente de águas residuárias de suinocultura tratadas em biodigestor e esterqueira. Nos resultados, não foi possível observar diferenças na composição das águas residuárias pela espectroscopia infravermelha com transformada de Fourier. Entretanto, pode-se identificar a presença de materiais ainda pouco degradados e a ocorrência de grupos funcionais nitrogenados, que apontam para a liberação do nitrogênio no solo quando degradados, evidenciando o potencial de reúso dessas águas residuárias na agricultura como forma de fertirrigação.Palavras-chave: Infravermelho. Esterqueira. Biodigestor. Efluentes.
One of the main analytical variable to indicate the evolution and the phases of the composting process is temperature, whose constant monitoring is fundamental for decision making. However, studies usually perform collection of temperature data with a daily frequency due to the operational difficulty in obtaining this information from manually collected samples. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the ideal frequency of temperature data collection in composting layers. Eight composting layers containing tree prunings + domestic organic residues were installed and four temperature sensors were installed in each layer. The temperature data were collected and recorded from minute to minute by means of a datalogger developed with an Arduino board during 70 days of composting. Thus, the collected temperatures were used as a pilot sample, and therefore the ideal temperature collection rate was estimated for different estimation error limits. No significant difference was found between the different collection times according to the Kruskal-Wallis test at a significance level of 5%. Therefore, the ideal collection frequency can be determined from the error limit of temperature estimation that is acceptable to the researcher.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.