Review on the Biological Degradation of Polymers in Various Environments

Kliem, Silvia; Kreutzbruck, Marc; Bonten, Christian

doi:10.3390/ma13204586

Cited by 111 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 107 publications

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“…Taken together with congruent results from SEM observations, we consider that the radiolabeled leucine incorporation measurement was a good proxy of their biodegradation. Our results are consistent with previous findings showing the biodegradation in soil, compost, or seawater for PBAT (Saadi et al, 2013;Weng et al, 2013;Wang et al, 2021), Mater-Bi (Kim et al, 2000), Bioplast 3 , PHBV (Arcos-Hernandez et al, 2015;Deroiné et al, 2015;Wang et al, 2021), and cellulose (Salehpour et al, 2018;Kliem et al, 2020;Zambrano et al, 2020). It is interesting to note that PLA, a plastic considered to be compostable and biodegradable in soil and compost 3 https://fr.biotec.de/ (Ren et al, 2007), did not show any sign of biodegradation under our marine experimental conditions.…”

Section: Convergent Signs Of Biodegradation For Some Plastic Typessupporting

confidence: 93%

Microbial Diversity and Activity During the Biodegradation in Seawater of Various Substitutes to Conventional Plastic Cotton Swab Sticks

et al. 2021

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The European Parliament recently approved a new law banning single-use plastic items for 2021 such as plastic plates, cutlery, straws, cotton swabs, and balloon sticks. Transition to a bioeconomy involves the substitution of these banned products with biodegradable materials. Several materials such as polylactic acid (PLA), polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT), poly(butylene succinate) (PBS), polyhydroxybutyrate-valerate (PHBV), Bioplast, and Mater-Bi could be good candidates to substitute cotton swabs, but their biodegradability needs to be tested under marine conditions. In this study, we described the microbial life growing on these materials, and we evaluated their biodegradability in seawater, compared with controls made of non-biodegradable polypropylene (PP) or biodegradable cellulose. During the first 40 days in seawater, we detected clear changes in bacterial diversity (Illumina sequencing of 16S rRNA gene) and heterotrophic activity (incorporation of 3H-leucine) that coincided with the classic succession of initial colonization, growth, and maturation phases of a biofilm. Biodegradability of the cotton swab sticks was then tested during another 94 days under strict diet conditions with the different plastics as sole carbon source. The drastic decrease of the bacterial activity on PP, PLA, and PBS suggested no bacterial attack of these materials, whereas the bacterial activity in PBAT, Bioplast, Mater-Bi, and PHBV presented similar responses to the cellulose positive control. Interestingly, the different bacterial diversity trends observed for biodegradable vs. non-biodegradable plastics allowed to describe potential new candidates involved in the degradation of these materials under marine conditions. This better understanding of the bacterial diversity and activity dynamics during the colonization and biodegradation processes contributes to an expanding baseline to understand plastic biodegradation in marine conditions and provide a foundation for further decisions on the replacement of the banned single-used plastics.

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Section: Convergent Signs Of Biodegradation For Some Plastic Typessupporting

confidence: 93%

Microbial Diversity and Activity During the Biodegradation in Seawater of Various Substitutes to Conventional Plastic Cotton Swab Sticks

et al. 2021

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“…Arabinoxylans are polysaccharides found in cereal grains like corn/maize, wheat, oats, barley, rice, sorghum, and rye [16,17]. They are constituted by a linear backbone of β- (1,4)-xylopyranosyl, which can be substituted with α-L-arabinofuranosyl residues in both O-3 and O-2 positions, only O-3, only O-2, or simply not have any substituents. These arabinose substituents can then be found esterified in O-5 with ferulic acid.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, there are also oil-based biodegradable polymers, such as polycaprolactone, poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) and its copolymers, and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) [ 2 , 3 ]. Though all mentioned polymer categories are usually referred to be biodegradable, only some of them, which include natural biopolymers from biomass-like polysaccharides, may be degraded by microorganisms under a wide range of environments (seawater, fresh water, soil, home and industrial composting, sewage sludge, and landfill) [ 4 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decolorization of a Corn Fiber Arabinoxylan Extract and Formulation of Biodegradable Films for Food Packaging

et al. 2021

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Corn fiber from the corn starch industry is a by-product produced in large quantity that is mainly used in animal feed formulations, though it is still rich in valuable components, such as arabinoxylans, with proven film-forming ability. During arabinoxylans’ recovery under alkaline extraction, a dark-colored biopolymer fraction is obtained. In this work, a purified arabinoxylan extract from corn fiber with an intense brownish color was decolorized using hydrogen peroxide as the decolorizing agent. Biodegradable films prepared by casting the decolorized extract exhibited a light-yellow color, considered more appealing, envisaging their application in food packaging. Films were prepared with glycerol as plasticizer and citric acid as cross-linker. Although the cross-linking reaction was not effective, films presented antioxidant activity, a water vapor permeability similar to that of non-decolorized films, and other polysaccharides’ and mechanical properties that enable their application as packaging materials of low-water-content food products.

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“…In recent years, the replacement of conventional (non-biodegradable) plastics with biodegradable plastics (BPs), which are degraded in natural environment, has been strongly promoted worldwide [ 3 – 5 ]. However, when BP products are designed to be sufficiently stable to maintain their functionality throughout the period of use, their degradation rate in an uncontrolled environment is often slower than desirable [ 6 – 8 ]. Without a means of rapidly degrading BPs, there is concern that they may remain and accumulate in the environment where they are used.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethanol treatment for sterilization, concentration, and stabilization of a biodegradable plastic–degrading enzyme from Pseudozyma antarctica culture supernatant

et al. 2021

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Biodegradable plastics must be sufficiently stable to maintain functionality during use but need to be able to degrade rapidly after use. We previously reported that treatment with an enzyme named PaE, secreted by the basidiomycete yeast Pseudozyma antarctica can speed up this degradation. To facilitate the production of large quantities of PaE, here, we aimed to elucidate the optimal conditions of ethanol treatment for sterilization of the culture supernatant and for concentration and stabilization of PaE. The results showed that Pseudozyma antarctica completely lost its proliferating ability when incubated in ≥20% (v/v) ethanol. When the ethanol concentration was raised to 90% (v/v), PaE formed a precipitate; however, its activity was restored completely when the precipitate was dissolved in water. To reduce ethanol use, PaE was successfully concentrated and recovered by sequential ammonium sulfate precipitation and ethanol precipitation steps. Over 90% of the activity in the original culture supernatant was recovered and the specific activity was increased 3.4-fold. By preparing the enzyme solution at a final concentration of 20% (v/v) ethanol, about 60% of the initial activity was maintained at ambient temperature for over 6 months without growth of microbes. We conclude that ethanol treatment is effective for sterilization, concentration, and stabilization of PaE, and that concentrating PaE by sequential ammonium sulfate precipitation and ethanol precipitation substantially increases the PaE purity and decreases ethanol use.

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Review on the Biological Degradation of Polymers in Various Environments

Cited by 111 publications

References 107 publications

Microbial Diversity and Activity During the Biodegradation in Seawater of Various Substitutes to Conventional Plastic Cotton Swab Sticks

Microbial Diversity and Activity During the Biodegradation in Seawater of Various Substitutes to Conventional Plastic Cotton Swab Sticks

Decolorization of a Corn Fiber Arabinoxylan Extract and Formulation of Biodegradable Films for Food Packaging

Ethanol treatment for sterilization, concentration, and stabilization of a biodegradable plastic–degrading enzyme from Pseudozyma antarctica culture supernatant

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