Biodegradability of biodegradable/degradable plastic materials under aerobic and anaerobic conditions

Abstract

A study was conducted on two types of plastic materials, Mater-Bi Novamont (MB) and Environmental Product Inc. (EPI), to assess their biodegradability under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. For aerobic conditions, organic fractions of municipal solid wastes were composted. For the anaerobic process, anaerobic inoculum from a wastewater treatment plant was used. Cellulose filter papers (CFP) were used as a positive control for both mediums. The composting process was monitored in terms of temperature, moisture and volatile solids and the biodegradation of the samples were monitored in terms of mass loss. Monitoring results showed a biodegradation of 27.1% on a dry basis for MB plastic within a period of 72 days of composting. Biodegradability under an anaerobic environment was monitored in terms of biogas production. A cumulative methane gas production of 245 ml was obtained for MB, which showed good degradation as compared to CFP (246.8 ml). However, EPI plastic showed a cumulative methane value of 7.6 ml for a period of 32 days, which was close to the blank (4.0 ml). The EPI plastic did not biodegrade under either condition. The cumulative carbon dioxide evolution after 32 days was as follows: CFP 4.406 cm3, MB 2.198 cm3 and EPI 1.328 cm3. The cumulative level of CO2 varying with time fitted sigmoid type curves with R2 values of 0.996, 0.996 and 0.995 for CFP, MB and EPI, respectively.