Eco-friendly biodegradable polymers: Sustainable future

Abstract

Polymers are among the most important materials and their applications permeate all areas of production and life. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] They are essential, but they are also often seen as a modern-day scourge, especially in terms of their negative impact on the environment. 17-21 For example, tens of millions of tons of waste plastic particles are discarded into the ocean every year, negatively impacting marine biodiversity 22 ; not to mention the large amounts of fossil fuels used to produce these plastics. The increasingly serious environmental pollution problem has led to a worldwide plastic restriction and ban, and the use of renewable and environmentally friendly biodegradable polymers and its composites is considered to be one of the effective ways to solve this problem. [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] The application of biodegradable polymers and its composites can not only effectively solve the problem of white pollution and reduce the dependence of synthetic polymers on petroleum resources but also help to reduce excessive greenhouse gas emissions and promote the high-value utilization of biomass resources, which is in line with the goal of sustainable development and the core concept of circular economy. [33][34][35][36][37][38] However, the current challenge is that compared with general-purpose plastics and engineering plastics, biodegradable polymers and its composites still have many performance bottlenecks, such as low/limited strength, poor toughness, low modulus, poor heat resistance, and lack of functionality, which greatly limit their application in high value-added and high performance requirements. 39 Therefore, the processing of high-performance biodegradable polymers and its composites has become an important research area in polymer science and technology today.For a biodegradable polymeric materials with known physical properties, morphology control is an important way to achieve high-performance materials without changing the proximal structure, composition, and components of the molecular chain. 40 Traditional polymer processing techniques, such as extrusion, injection molding, blow molding, compression molding and spinning, have mild effects on the morphological structure of polymeric materials. They are not able to significantly

Polymer blends of poly(lactic acid) and starch for the production of films applied in food packaging: A brief review

“…However, the commercialization of these materials is quite harmful to the environment. 109,110 Plastics made from petroleum, which are not biodegradable, typically take decades or even hundreds of years to degrade. 111,112…”

“…However, the commercialization of these materials is quite harmful to the environment. 109,110 Plastics made from petroleum, which are not biodegradable, typically take decades or even hundreds of years to degrade. 111,112 Polyolefins are the polymers of greatest commercial interest, representing an important category in the polymer industry.…”

Eco-friendly bean flour films for sustainable food packaging

“…3,4 Biodegradable polymers offer a potential solution to the problems associated with discarded waste; they degrade faster by the action of microorganisms occurring naturally in the environment. 5 They can be produced from renewable or biologically based sources such as polysaccharides (starch, carrageenan, pectin, alginate, carboxymethylcellulose and chitosan), proteins (wheat gluten, whey protein isolate, caseinate and soy protein) and lipids (waxes and fatty acids). [6][7][8] Different biodegradable polymers have already been used to produce environmentally friendly films and each matrix can have advantages and disadvantages.…”

Effect of varying processing temperatures on the mechanical and microstructural properties of kenaf fibre-ABS composites for moderate temperature applications

“…5 Thus, in recent times, there is increased research activities aimed at substituting synthetic fillers with natural fillers/fibres. 6,7 The goal is to cheapen polymer-based composites in order to make them more affordable to end users and also to ensure environmental sustainability. This is based on the numerous advantages of natural fibres which include lower cost, lower density, renewability, biodegradability and a few specific mechanical properties.…”