Biodegradability and Risk Assessment of Biomass-based Polymeric Materials

Abstract

With the intention to solve environmental problems caused by synthetic plastics from petroleum resources, biodegradable polyurethane foams and thermosetting moldings were prepared from biomass, such as wood and wheat bran by liquefaction method. Biodegradability of these biomass-based polymeric materials was investigated. In activated sludge, polyurethane foams from liquefied wheat bran and thermosetting molding from phenolated wood were decomposed approximately 14% and 29% for 20 days, respectively. One of the wood fungi, Coriolus versicolor was able to grow without supplemental nutrition, only with distilled water and polyurethane foam as a nutrition source. Risk assessments were also conducted and results showed that estrogenicity, mutagenicity, and carcinogenicity were not observed in the extractives of biomass-based polymeric materials.