Published June 7, 2021 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Study on the influence of advanced treatment processes on the surface properties of polylactic acid for a bio-based circular economy for plastics

  • 1. Clausthal Centre for Materials Technology (CZM), Clausthal University of Technology, Leibnizstr. 9, 38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany
  • 2. School of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 9 Heroon Polytechneiou St., Zografou Campus, 15780 Athens, Greece
  • 3. Institute for Electrochemistry, Clausthal University of Technology, 38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany
  • 4. Open University of Cyprus, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Environmental Conservation and Management, Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Engineering Sustainability, P.O.Box 12794, 2252 Latsia, Nicosia, Cyprus

Description

New biotechnological processes using microorganisms and/or enzymes to convert carbonaceous resources, either biomass or depolymerized plastics into a broad range of different bioproducts are recognized for their high potential for reduced energy consumption and reduced GHG emissions. However, the hydrophobicity, high molecular weight, chemical and structural composition of most of them hinders their biodegradation. A solution to reduce the impact of non-biodegradable polymers spread in the environment would be to make them biodegradable. Different approaches are evaluated for enhancing their biodegradation. The aim of this work is to develop and optimize the ultrasonication (US) and UV photodegradation and their combination as well as dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma as pre‐treatment technologies, which change surface properties and enhance the biodegradation of plastic by surface oxidation and thus helping bacteria to dock on them. Polylactic acid (PLA) has been chosen as a model polymer to investigate its surface degradation by US, UV, and DBD plasma using surface characterization methods like X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Confocal Laser Microscopy (CLSM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) as well as FT-IR and drop contour analysis. Both US and UV affect the surface properties substantially by eliminating the oxygen content of the polymer but in a different way, while plasma oxidizes the surface.

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Funding

BioICEP – Bio Innovation of a Circular Economy for Plastics 870292
European Commission