caa a22 4500 467886334 CHVBK 20180406152735.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170328e20060701xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10924-006-0015-6 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10924-006-0015-6 Degradation of Commercial Biodegradable Packages under Real Composting and Ambient Exposure Conditions [Elektronische Daten] [Gaurav Kale, Rafael Auras, Sher Paul Singh] The use of long-lasting polymers as packaging materials for short lived applications is not entirely justified. Plastic packaging materials are often soiled due to foodstuffs and other biological substances, making physical recycling of these materials impractical and normally unwanted. Hence, there is an increasing demand for biodegradable packaging materials which could be easily renewable. Use of biopolymer based packaging materials allows consideration of eliminating issues such as landfilling, sorting and reprocessing through taking advantage of their unique functionality, that is compostability. Composting allows disposal of biodegradable packages and is not as energy intensive compared to sorting and reprocessing for recycling, although it requires more energy than landfilling. The aim of this work was to study the degradation of three commercially available biodegradable packages made of poly (ld-lactide) (PLA) under real compost conditions and under ambient exposure by visual inspection, gel permeation chromatography, differential scanning calorimetry, and thermal gravimetric analysis. A novel technique to study the degradability of these packages and to track the degradation rate under real compost conditions was used. The packages were subjected to composting for 30days, and the degradation of the physical properties was measured at 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 15 and 30days. PLA packages made of 96% l-lactide exhibited lower degradation than PLA packages made of 94% l-lactide, mainly due to their highly ordered structure, therefore, higher crystallinity. The degradation rate changed as the initial crystallinity and the l-lactide content of the packages varied. Temperature, relative humidity, and pH of the compost pile played an important role in the total degradation of the packages. A first order degradation of the molecular weight as a function of time was observed for the three packages. Springer Science+Business Media, Inc., 2006 Biopolymers nationallicence Compostability nationallicence Degradation nationallicence GPC, hydrolysis nationallicence Poly(lactide) nationallicence Kale Gaurav School of Packaging, Michigan State University, MI 48823-1223, East Lansing, USA aut Auras Rafael School of Packaging, Michigan State University, MI 48823-1223, East Lansing, USA aut Singh Sher Paul School of Packaging, Michigan State University, MI 48823-1223, East Lansing, USA aut Journal of Polymers and the Environment Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers; http://www.springer-ny.com 14/3(2006-07-01), 317-334 1566-2543 14:3<317 2006 14 10924 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-006-0015-6 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-006-0015-6 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Kale Gaurav School of Packaging, Michigan State University, MI 48823-1223, East Lansing, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Auras Rafael School of Packaging, Michigan State University, MI 48823-1223, East Lansing, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Singh Sher Paul School of Packaging, Michigan State University, MI 48823-1223, East Lansing, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Journal of Polymers and the Environment Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers; http://www.springer-ny.com 14/3(2006-07-01), 317-334 1566-2543 14:3<317 2006 14 10924 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer