Comparative Study on the Behavior of Virgin and Recycled Polyolefins–Cellulose Composites in Natural Environmental Conditions

Abstract

Polypropylene–cellulose composites have great potential in many important commercial applications, and it is important to understand and properly evaluate their biodegradative behavior to achieve improved composite formulations in accordance with their future applications. In the present study, an outdoor soil burial test was performed in order to evaluate the susceptibility to degradation of polyolefins–cellulose composites. The structural and morphological changes were analyzed by Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The weight loss of composite samples after burying in soil was recorded. The presence of new bands, as an indicator of degradation, was confirmed by FTIR-ATR spectra. The thermal stability of the composites after soil burial analyzed by TGA was slightly improved, with relatively higher temperatures being required to decompose the samples after exposure to environmental factors. SEM micrographs presented some modifications of the polymer surface, such as holes, cracks, exfoliations, and fractures. Increasing the cellulose percentage of the composite samples led to increased weight loss. From the obtained results, it can be concluded that composites based on polyolefins and renewable resources undergo a slow process of biodegradation after contact with environmental microorganisms and, with appropriate composition, could be applied to various environmental fields.

Kinetic Study of the Thermal and Thermo-Oxidative Degradations of Polystyrene Reinforced with Multiple-Cages POSS

“…Daily life is characterized by the constantly growing use of objects and devices made of plastic. Simple carbon-chain polymers, such as polyolefins [ 1 , 2 ], represent the widest sector of commercial polymer production due to the ease and affordability of manufacture by the processing of the molten polymer. With regards to the durability of these materials, we have to consider two different aspects: one related to their nature and the second related to their manufacturing.…”

Review on the photonic techniques suitable for automatic monitoring of the composition of multi-materials wastes in view of their posterior recycling

“…Degradation of resins coming from post-consumer waste can occur by diverse factors such as temperature, exposure to the environmental elements and microorganisms, among others. This can cause consequent alterations in their polymeric structure, more specifically in the stretching regions of C=C and C–H bonds ( Beigbeder et al, 2013 ; Hadi et al, 2014 ; Moroni et al, 2015 ; Raut et al, 2019 ; Signoret et al, 2019 ). In this regard, vibrational spectroscopies such as NIR or NIR-HSI are nowadays the main photonic techniques implemented at industrial scale for the sorting of plastic waste streams.…”

Why Biopolymer Packaging Materials are Better

“…Plastics for packaging can be categorized as commodity plastics or barrier plastics. Polyethylene(PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene(PS), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are examples of commodity plastics [10], [14]- [17]. Compared to barrier plastics, commodity plastics are cheaper with poor oxygen barrier property.…”

“…Although plastics are a good packaging material for industries in terms of consumer friendliness and cost-effectiveness, they have a negative impact in terms of environmental sustainability as they result in unrecoverable damage due to their low degradation rate under normal environmental parameters. In addition, under oxidation reactions and burning conditions, plastics emit a higher number of greenhouse gases (GHG) and gases which are toxic to humans and living things [14]. A considerable amount of research has been carried out on bio-packaging with an intention to overcome these problematic issues with plastics.…”

“…By looking at the recent developments, the main focus (requirement of sunlight to degrade) of biodegradable plastics need to be diverted in another way. Because it will not help the already buried landfill waste [14], [21]. Therefore, it will last in the environment for a long time period.…”