Biodegradation and Ecotoxicity of Polyethylene Films Containing Pro-Oxidant Additive

Vázquez‐Morillas, Alethia; Beltrán-Villavicencio, Margarita; Álvarez‐Zeferino, Juan Carlos; Osada-Velázquez, M. H.; Moreno, A.; Martı́nez, L.; Yáñez, Juan Manuel Sánchez

doi:10.1007/s10924-016-0765-8

Cited by 27 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…At the industrial level, in the field of degradable polymers, research has been carried out on the development of biodegradable and oxo-degradable plastics [9,10]. Biodegradable polymers are materials that are compatible with a biological medium because they can be used as an energy source by microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of the Prodegradant-Additive Plastics Incorporated on the Polyethylene Recycling

Aldás

Paladines

Valle

et al. 2018

International Journal of Polymer Science

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The effect of degraded plastic with prodegradants on the polyethylene properties was studied. First, the mixture of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) with 5 wt.% prodegradant (oxo-degradable) additive was prepared by melt processing using a mixer chamber. Then, the degradation of the mixtures was evaluated by exposing the oxo-degradable LDPE in a Xenon arc chamber for 300 hours. The degraded material was characterized by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) assessing the carbonyl index and the hydroperoxide band. Then, different percentages of degraded material (1, 5, 10, 20, and 50 wt.%) were incorporated into the neat LDPE. Mechanical and rheological tests were carried out to evaluate the recycling process of these blends. Also, the feasibility of the blends reprocessing was determined by analysing the melt flow index for each heating process and shear stress applied. It was evidenced that the increment of the content of the degraded material in the neat LDPE decreased the mechanical strength and the processability of blends due to the imminent thermal degradation. All the test results showed that the incorporation of degraded material causes a considerable reduction in the matrix properties during the reprocessing. Nevertheless, at low concentrations, the properties of the oxo-degradable LDPE-LDPE blends were found to be similar to the neat LDPE.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of the Prodegradant-Additive Plastics Incorporated on the Polyethylene Recycling

Aldás

Paladines

Valle

et al. 2018

International Journal of Polymer Science

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“…Since the first synthetic polymer materials have been obtained, technological progress has focused primarily on improving the synthesis methods in order to obtain a product of high durability, resistance to external factors and, above all, good functional properties [10,15]. Unfortunately, the beneficial functional characteristics of polymer materials become their disadvantage after their use, and the disposal of their waste creates very serious problems [5,16]. Frequently, the problem is compounded by the significant diversification of waste going to municipal landfills.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Polymer material waste is considered one of the most onerous waste [11,18], constituting an enormous threat to the natural environment [4,14,16]. For this reason, recycling of polymer materials is currently one of the most important waste management problems [5,10,15]. As it was mentioned above, the management and disposal of post-consumer polymer materials in the European Union member states is currently implemented by three methods: recycling, energy recovery, and storage.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…one of the ways of macromolecular compound formation. The polymer polymerisation degree is a non-nominal number informing about how many times a particular element (mer) is repeated in the structure of a molecular compound [2][3][4][5]. In practice, three main methods of monomer polymerisation are known and used: radical polymerisation (initiated by organic low molecular substances), ionic (initiated by anions and cations), and coordination polymerisation (initiated by transition metal atoms, surrounded by ligands) [6,7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By origin, polymers are divided into: natural polymers (biopolymers), synthetic polymers (obtained by chemical synthesis), and modified polymers (natural or synthetic polymers whose structure was chemically or physically changed) [1,4,5]. Natural polymers are an indispensable element of the animate world (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Degradation of Polyethylene and Biocomponent-Derived Polymer Materials: An Overview

2019

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The progressing degradation of the natural environment taking place over the last few decades and resulting from the systematically growing production of synthetic polymer materials led to the search for technological innovations aimed at producing environmentally friendly materials. Moreover, the increasing importance of sustainability promotes the development of bio-based and biodegradable polymers, sometimes misleadingly referred to as "bioplastics". Inability to degrade synthetic polymer materials and the problem of their persistence in the environment even for hundreds of years have caused the production of polymer materials with the addition of components that may accelerate their degradation more and more important in recent years. Additionally, the growing interest in environmental issues makes the requirements for new materials that will not significantly burden the environment higher. In Poland 29.1% and 26.8% of post-consumer polymer materials, respectively, were recovered and recycled, which means that up to 44.1% of post-consumer polymer materials were sent to municipal landfills. In 2017, for the first time in Poland, more plastics were recovered (55.9%) than stored (44.1%). However, by 2020, the level of energy recovery and recycling of post-consumer polymer materials in Poland should cover a total of 84.5%. When looking at the average values for Europe (recycling 31.1%, recovery 41.6%, storage 27.3%), it should be noted that Poland has much to catch up in this area and decisive actions should be taken to actually solve this problem. For this reason, it is extremely important to know the mechanisms responsible for the degradation of polymer materials and understand the interaction between these materials and abiotic and biotic factors that cause structural changes in polymers. Recent studies show that knowledge of the conditions determining the decomposition of polyethylene polymer materials and their impact on the natural environment is still insufficient. The literature reports reveal many contradictory theories, especially those that relate to the degradation of polymer materials in the soil environment. This study constitutes a comprehensive review of researches on (bio)degradation of polymer materials over the last decades, various methods of polymer structure modification to increase the degree of their degradability, as well as methods of recycling post-consumer polymer materials. Because there is a need to assess the performance of polymer innovations in terms of their biodegradability, especially under realistic waste management and environmental conditions, to avoid the unwanted release of plastic degradation products to the environment.

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Ionizing radiation as adjuvant for the abiotic degradation of plastic bags containing pro‐oxidant additives

Aldás

Valle

Aguilar

et al. 2020

J of Applied Polymer Sci

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The effects of ionizing radiation in promoting the abiotic degradation mechanisms in oxo‐degradable plastic bags were studied. Commercial plastic bags, containing pro‐oxidant additives, were irradiated with gamma photons and accelerated electrons at doses of 5 and 10 kGy. Then, the irradiated bags were exposed to abiotic degradation, either thermal aging or accelerated weathering. Mechanical and microstructural characterizations were performed to follow the degradation. Plastic bags containing additives did not show important changes in their structure after ionizing radiation and thermal aging. Meanwhile, accelerated weathering combined with gamma photons irradiation produce fragmentation of all the samples after 120 h of degradation. It was concluded that the combination of ionizing radiation and accelerated weathering allows the breakage of polyethylene chains trough accelerating the activation of pro‐oxidant additive. Additionally, polyethylene molecules are degraded with pre‐treatment of ionizing radiation even if they do not contain the pro‐oxidant additive.

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Biodegradation and Ecotoxicity of Polyethylene Films Containing Pro-Oxidant Additive

Cited by 27 publications

References 17 publications

Effect of the Prodegradant-Additive Plastics Incorporated on the Polyethylene Recycling

Effect of the Prodegradant-Additive Plastics Incorporated on the Polyethylene Recycling

Degradation of Polyethylene and Biocomponent-Derived Polymer Materials: An Overview

Ionizing radiation as adjuvant for the abiotic degradation of plastic bags containing pro‐oxidant additives

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