Environmental Degradability of Polyurethanes

Abstract

The growing interest in environmental issues and increasing demands to develop materials that do not burden the natural environment significantly are currently observed. In this connection many studies on polymer degradation in different environments are carried out. It is important to consider the influence of synergistic action of various factors in order to understand the environmental degradation of synthetic polymers. This requires understanding of interactions between polymer and living organisms. This paper reviews current authors research on environmental degradation of polyurethanes.The comparison of environmental degradability of polyurethanes in the "altic Sea water and compost under natural weather depending conditions is presented. The environmental degradation of poly ester-urethane based on poly ethylene-butyleneadipate and poly ester-urethane based on poly ε -caprolactone was evaluated.The characteristic parameters of sea water temperature, pH, salt, and oxygen contents and of compost temperature, pH, moisture content, and activity of

Environmental degradability of polycaprolactone under natural conditions

“…The straw was added to maintain the higher temperature of the compost pile and to loosen the structure of the compost pile. The compost pile prepared under natural conditions was not adequately aerated, so it was expected that a combination of conditions from aerobic at the upper part of pile, microaerophilic in the middle part and facultative anaerobic at the bottom of the pile could occur for microorganisms growth [2]. The Figure 1 represents cross-section of compost pile in natural environment.…”

“…The characteristic parameters of the compost such as: temperature, pH, moisture content, activity of dehydrogenases were measured during environmental degradation process of PCL samples and are shown in Table 1 [9]. …”

“…The perforated baskets structure allowed for free movement of seawater and the access of micro-organisms and enzymes dissolved in the water to degraded material. Table 2 and 3 [9,14]. …”

“…As opposite to this, under anoxic conditions, anaerobic microorganisms play the main role in polymer destruction. The primary products are methane, water and biomass [1,2].…”

“…An example of a biodegradable polymer which undergoes microbial degradation, both in contact with living organisms, and in terms of the natural environment is poly(-caprolactone), which can degrade in several biotic environments, including sea, river and lake water, sewage sludge, farm soil and compost [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. According to the literature degradation of poly(-caprolactone) in a living environment can result of simple chemical hydrolysis of ester bonds or from enzymatic attack or both [13].…”