Development of biodegradable polymers

In the last few decades plastic production increased rapidly all over the word, and because of this also the plastic waste in the environment is getting higher and higher, resulting more environmental load.

The case is especially serious in the field of packaging materials. If we would be able to develop modified base materials in these areas, which are biologically degradable, we could decrease the negative effect to the environment significantly. We can get such materials in two ways: on the one hand we can produce 100% degradable plastics; on the other hand we can modify traditional polymers with special additives to become degradable.

In our article we overview a survey of the effects of synthetic plastics’ on the environment, and on their recycling possibilities. We describe the bases of the biological degradation and the main types of degradable polymers.

Additionally we emphasize the biological degradability of polyolefins, produced by TVK PLC.

In the experimental part we describe a method in case of a chosen polypropylene type, whereby the initialization of the polyolefin’s degradation process is obtainable and methods to control, monitor the process. The examinations partly were made by Nor-X Industry AS Norway Company who contributed to the execution of the experiments by their products and equipments.

Péter Suba – Dr. Gábor Nagy – Kinga Lovas Kiss