In nature such as soil, sandy soil, freshwater environment, seawater environment, specific conditions such as composting conditions or anaerobic digestion conditions.
Plastics that are degraded by the action of microorganisms present in nature causing degradation and eventually complete degradation into carbon dioxide (CO2) or/and methane (CH4), water (H2O) and mineralized inorganic salts of the elements they contain, as well as new biomass (e.g. dead microorganisms, etc.).
Differences between degradable plastics and ordinary plastics
Traditional plastics are mainly made of polystyrene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride and other polymer compounds, which have a molecular weight of hundreds of thousands and a stable chemical structure and are difficult to be degraded by microorganisms.
It takes 200-400 years for traditional plastics to degrade in the natural environment, therefore, it is easy to cause environmental pollution by discarding traditional plastics at will.
The main chain of degradable plastic polymers contains a large number of ester bonds, which can be digested and utilized by microorganisms and eventually be decomposed into small molecules without causing lasting pollution to the environment.
Post time: Nov-01-2022