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Biodegradation of LDPE_TPS blends under controlled composting conditions

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Abstract

Plastic waste can serve as a symbolic expression of environmental pollution because of its prevalence and extremely slow degradation. A well-known example of synthetic plastics is low-density polyethylene (LDPE). A pragmatic approach to mitigate the environmental problems is to develop biodegradable plastic without compromising the quality of properties or increasing the price. To meet these requirements, one must turn to polymers from natural sources, such as starch. Starch is a fully biodegradable, semi-crystalline, non-toxic polymer with difficulties in processing. To obtain thermoplastic starch (TPS), a biodegradable glycerol plasticizer and sheer processing are necessary over a so-called gelatinization. Here, we aim to prepare and investigate sustainable and environmentally friendly packaging materials based on biodegradable blends, such as LDPE_TPS. The prepared blends were subjected to extensive physicochemical characterization to clarify the functional performance and biodegradability. Changes in structure, morphology and chemical composition before and after biodegradation were interpreted and correlated. Problems such as high interfacial tension due to high incompatibility between the non-polar polyolefin and the highly polar TPS were alleviated for some blends. The observation of mechanical, diffusive and composting parameters suggests that the modifier plays a crucial role in obtaining homogeneous polymer blends. The study of LDPE_TPS blends shows that it is possible to produce polymer blends with good biodegradability and balanced mechanical performance at a reasonable price.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been funded by the projects: Advanced Water Treatment Technologies for Microplastics Removal (AdWaTMiR) IP-2019-04 of the Croatian Science Foundation and SLIPPERY SLOPE UIP-2019-02-2367 of the Croatian Science Foundation and PV-WALL PZS-2019-02-1555 in Research Cooperability Program of the Croatian Science Foundation funded by the European Union from the European Social Fund under the Operational Programme Efficient Human Resources 2014-2020.

Funding

This work has been funded by the projects: Advanced Water Treatment Technologies for Microplastics Removal (AdWaTMiR) IP-2019–04 of the Croatian Science Foundation and SLIPPERY SLOPE UIP-2019–02-2367 of the Croatian Science Foundation and PV-WALL PZS-2019–02-1555 in Research Cooperability Program of the Croatian Science Foundation funded by the European Union from the European Social Fund under the Operational Programme Efficient Human Resources 2014–2020.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Metallurgy, University of Zagreb, Aleja Narodnih Heroja 3, 44 000, Sisak, Croatia

    Vesna Ocelić Bulatović

  2. Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, University of Zagreb, Marulićev trg 19, 10 000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Dajana Kučić Grgić, Vilko Mandić & Martina Miloloža

  3. Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Heyrovsky Sq. 2, 162 06, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Jiri Dybal, Veronika Gajdosova & Miroslav Slouf

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  1. Vesna Ocelić Bulatović
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  2. Dajana Kučić Grgić
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  3. Vilko Mandić
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  4. Martina Miloloža
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  5. Jiri Dybal
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  6. Veronika Gajdosova
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  7. Miroslav Slouf
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by [VOB], [DKG], [VM], [MM], [JD], [VG] and [MS]. The first draft of the manuscript was written by [VOB and DKG], and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Vesna Ocelić Bulatović.

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Bulatović, V.O., Grgić, D.K., Mandić, V. et al. Biodegradation of LDPE_TPS blends under controlled composting conditions. Polym. Bull. 80, 3331–3357 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-021-03982-6

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