Biodegradation of bioplastics under aerobic and anaerobic aqueous conditions: Kinetics, carbon fate and particle size effect

García‐Depraect, Octavio; Lebrero, Raquel; Rodriguez-Vega, Sara; Bordel, Sergio; Santos-Beneit, Fernando; Martínez-Mendoza, Leonardo J.; Börner, Rosa Aragão; Börner, Tim; Muñoz, Raúl

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2021.126265

Cited by 89 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…PLA100 barely biodegraded (8.7%) after 50 days of biodegradation, whereas PHB100 exhibited 73.3% mineralization (91.7% with respect to cellulose). These levels of biodegradation are comparable to the results of other studies that simulated freshwater environment for PLA (3.7 and 2.0% over 28, 365 days, respectively) and PHB (90.0 and 83.0% over 43, 117 days, respectively). On the one hand, poor biodegradation of PLA may be ascribed to the lower surrounding temperature (25 °C) than its T g (typically around 58 °C), at which abiotic hydrolysis accelerates. , PLA biodegrades fast only under controlled composting and anaerobic digesting conditions. ,, On the other hand, the significant biodegradation of PHB may be attributed to (i) rich microbial diversity in the inoculum obtained from two remote municipal wastewater plants and (ii) large surface availability due to the use of powdered samples with a diameter of 125–250 μm, which better facilitate biofilm formation on the surface than film and pellet forms. , On contrary to the results of the composting test, synergistic biodegradation was not observed in biodegradable plastic blends, as PLA50/PHB50 mineralized 32.3% over 50 days (44.1% with respect to PHB100).…”

Section: Results and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Biodegradation of 3D-Printed Biodegradable/Non-biodegradable Plastic Blends

Choe

Kim

Park

et al. 2022

ACS Appl. Polym. Mater.

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Thermoplastic blends are applied for three-dimensional (3D) printing to obtain improved functionality. While thermal, chemical, and mechanical properties of 3D-printed blends are typically examined, biodegradability of the 3D-printed plastics has rarely been the focus of research. In this study, we evaluated the biodegradation behavior of 3D-printed prototypes fabricated from various plastics and blends, including biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA), poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB), non-biodegradable high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and polypropylene (PP). Letter-shaped specimens were prototyped using a fused deposition modeling (FDM) printer with various filaments (PLA, PHB, HDPE, PP, PLA/HDPE, PLA/PP, PHB/HDPE, PHB/PP, and PLA/PHB), and their printing performance and optimal printing conditions were evaluated. FDM 3D printing of HDPE and PP has been problematic due to poor adhesion, warping deformation, and crystallization-induced volume contraction. We demonstrate that PLA/HDPE and PLA/PP blends are printable, and PLA/PHB blends exhibit outstanding printing performance. Biodegradation tests on 3D-printed prototypes were performed employing a systematically designed respirometer by simulating (i) controlled composting and (ii) the aerobic aqueous environment. Neat PHB and PLA/PHB blends (50:50 wt %) showed significant biodegradation in controlled composting and an aerobic aqueous test (86.4, 85.0% and 73.3, 32.3%, respectively) in 50 days, while biodegradable/non-biodegradable blends (PLA/HDPE, PLA/PP, PHB/HDPE, and PHB/PP) were barely biodegraded. The immiscible biodegradable/non-biodegradable plastic blends revealed evidence of partial degradation and even antagonism to biodegradation, most likely due to phase separation and the barrier effect. Taken together, although PLA/HDPE and PLA/PP blends exhibited resistance to biodegradation, the low-cost polyolefins (HDPE and PP) as well as some notable improvements in mechanical properties render them promising FDM 3D printing resources. On the other hand, the outstanding printing performance, improved Young’s modulus, and synergetic biodegradation behavior indicate that the PLA/PHB blend can be an excellent fit for sustainable FDM printing resources.

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Section: Results and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Biodegradation of 3D-Printed Biodegradable/Non-biodegradable Plastic Blends

Choe

Kim

Park

et al. 2022

ACS Appl. Polym. Mater.

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“…It has been reported that the surface area and reaction time plays a significant role in PET biodegradability. The small particle size is advantageous for reducing the biodegradation assay time and eliminating the surface limiting effects to assess a material's intrinsic biodegradability (García-Depraect et al, 2022). Similarly, the study reported that the plastic pellets have a slower biodegradation rate than other samples i.e., plastic powder (Chinaglia et al, 2018).…”

Section: Relevance Of Microbes In Plastic Degradationmentioning

confidence: 98%

Microbial biodegradation of plastics: Challenges, opportunities, and a critical perspective

Shilpa

Basak

Meena

2022

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

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“…Biofilm development on the surface of PE particles, however, has been associated with biodegradation [11,[25][26][27]. Microorganisms recruit the extracellular enzyme reservoir to enable the biodeterioration and biofragmentation of solid substrates [28]. In this experiment, viable cells and protein concentrations were examined as a measure of biofilm formation and microbial activity, while FTIR and DLS were employed to detect polymer-related changes.…”

Section: Changes Of Incubated Secondary Microplasticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanoplastic Generation from Secondary PE Microplastics: Microorganism-Induced Fragmentation

et al. 2022

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Concern regarding the pollution of the marine environment with plastics has been rising in recent years. Plastic waste residing in and interacting with the environment fragments into secondary particles in the micro- and nanoscale, whose negative impacts on the environment are even greater than those of the parent items. In this work, secondary high density polyethylene (HDPE) and low density polyethylene (LDPE) microplastics were produced by irradiation of virgin films following mechanical fragmentation. The fragments with size ranging from 250 μm to 2 mm were selected for subsequent microcosm experiments. Incubation for 120 days in seawater inoculated with two marine communities, Agios, acclimatized to utilizing plastics as a carbon source, and Souda, as was collected at the Souda bay (Crete, Greece), resulted in biofilm formation by polyethylene (PE) degraders. Monthly FTIR (Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy) examination of the samples revealed changes in the chemical structure of the surface of the polymers. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) was employed and nano- and microparticles with sizes in the range between 56 nm and 4.5 μm were detected in the seawater of inoculated microcosms. It was thus demonstrated that weathered plastics particles can biodeteriorate and biofragment as a result of biofilm attachment, resulting in the production of nanoplastics due to microbial activity.

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Biodegradation of bioplastics under aerobic and anaerobic aqueous conditions: Kinetics, carbon fate and particle size effect

Cited by 89 publications

References 36 publications

Biodegradation of 3D-Printed Biodegradable/Non-biodegradable Plastic Blends

Biodegradation of 3D-Printed Biodegradable/Non-biodegradable Plastic Blends

Microbial biodegradation of plastics: Challenges, opportunities, and a critical perspective

Nanoplastic Generation from Secondary PE Microplastics: Microorganism-Induced Fragmentation

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