Biodegradable Plastics Essay

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Angelica A. Tabamo 177226 Biodegradable Polymers Through the years, petroleum based products have dominated our lifestyle. However, the issue of pollution which arise from their disposal presented the necessity for these polymers to have biodegradable alternatives (Luckachan & Pillai, 2011; Wei & Zimmermann, 2017). Petrochemical polymers include plastics and rubber which are commonly made of ethylene and butadiene (“Plastic pollution - Wikipedia,” n.d.). Plastics are the single most widely used material in the world. They can be made into a variety of products (Andrady & Neal, 2009). Their versatility, durability and low cost are what made them a sought-after material by manufacturers and consumers. However, plastic materials are also known to degrade after a very long time, rendering them effective in polluting agricultural lands (Brodhagen et al., 2017) and ocean bodies before decay (Sciences & Zealand, 2002). …show more content…

Ideally, this type of plastics is completely degraded into water and carbon dioxide through bacterial, fungal or algal decay. On the other hand, bio-based plastics are produced from renewable carbon sources only, such as lignin, cellulose, starch and other plant or wood components but they may be non-biodegradable. Table 1 summarizes the examples of classification of plastics (Iwata, 2015). There are four main categories of biodegradable polymers. Only the first three of which produce biodegradable plastics (Figure 1): a. polymers from biomass b. polymers obtained by microorganisms c. polymers whose monomers are obtained from agricultural sources through biotechnology d. polymers whose monomers and polymers are obtained conventionally, by chemical synthesis (Luc Avérous, 2004). In this paper, we will explore the different biodegradable polymers and the current technologies involved in their

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