Aerobic Biodegradation of Synthetic and Natural Polymeric Materials: A Component of Integrated Solid-Waste Management

Factors influencing the duration of lag phase during in vitro biodegradation of compression-molded, acetylated biodegradable soy protein films

“…Long growth lag phases are attributed to bacterial enzyme production, substrate solubilization, dissimilar substrate concentrations, and temperature variations between batch aquarium and individual tests. Lag phases are a function of the substrate and environmental conditions in support of work by Walker and Wilson (1991), Pettigrew, Rece, Smith, and King (1995), and Grassie and Scott (1985). For this study, the growth lag for SY7 possessed a significant F-value at the 0.05 level for temperature and was correlated to the environmental testing temperature with a coefficient of determination R 2 = 0.72.…”

A review of biodegradable polymers: uses, current developments in the synthesis and characterization of biodegradable polyesters, blends of biodegradable polymers and recent advances in biodegradation studies

“…Pettigrew et al 213 have compared a tiered testing strategy for assessing the compostability of PCL (OECD 301B and ASTM D5338 test methods) with realistic composting of 14C-PCL. These tests conÐrmed that screening-level biodegradation tests can provide information about the inherent biodegradability of polymers, but the rate of degradation and the ultimate fate of polymers in environmental conditions must be determined using realistic tests.…”

Knowledge Gaps in Polymer Biodegradation Research

“…The remaining studies did not use a positive control to confirm inoculum viability. In many of these studies, degradation was observed in the materials tested, suggesting viability of the inoculum. − In other studies, no degradation was observed, but this was more likely due to the materials tested (polyethylenes) and not inoculum viability. , …”

“…The conditions in these tests are generally not favorable for the growth of other microorganisms, such as fungi or actinomycetes, which are important actors in polymer degradation. Further, these closed batch systems eventually will suffer from nutrient limitations …”