Biodegradability assessment of starch/glycerol foam and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)/starch film by respirometric tests

• Autor(a) principal: Taiatele Junior,Ivan
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Dal Bosco,Tatiane Cristina, Bertozzi,Janksyn, Michels,Roger Nabeyama, Mali,Suzana
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Journal of Food Technology
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1981-67232020000100448
• topic: Biopolymers; PBAT; Sturm; Thermoplastic; Starch; Composting

Abstract The objectives of this work were to determine the biodegradability of starch/glycerol foam and of poly(butylene-adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT)/starch film using respirometric methods and also to compare these results with conventional polymers – expanded polystyrene and low-density polyethylene. A matured organic compost was utilized as inoculum and sucrose was used as positive reference material. Biodegradation efficiencies (BE) after 47 days were: 35% for sucrose; 34% for starch/glycerol; and 38% for PBAT/starch. Starch/glycerol and PBAT/starch presented BE statistically equal to sucrose, whilst both the conventional packaging used were not degraded (p> 0.05). Infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analyses showed that the microbiota rather degraded the starch over the PBAT in the PBAT/starch blend, and also that some starch remained intact in the internal polymeric matrix. This study verified that starch/glycerol foam and PBAT/starch film are highly biodegradable materials and may then be used to enhance the biodegradability of some products such as disposable trays and supermarket bags.