Biodegradable polymers future

Biodegradable polymers are likely to be increasingly important materials in the future, finding use in applications as diverse as medicine, agriculture, and pharmacy. For applications such as packaging, they remain expensive. However, with changing public attitudes towards enviromnental pollution, it is likely that objections based purely on cost will dimiiush, and that such applications will also grow in the years ahead. 

In the last few years there have been new creative methods of preparation of novel hydrophilic polymers and hydrogels that may represent the future in drug delivery applications. The focus in these studies has been the development of polymeric structures with precise molecular architectures. Stupp et al. (1997) synthesized self-assembled triblock copolymer, nanostructures that may have very promising applications in controlled drug delivery. Novel biodegradable polymers, such as polyrotaxanes, have been developed that have particularly exciting molecular assemblies for drug delivery (Ooya and Yui, 1997). 

Biotechnological syntheses of PHB are still in their infancy and some problems may be overcome in near future. However, the synthesis of biodegradable polymers in a catalytic manner offers so many advantages, not only with regards to costs, that future development of such research is worthwhile. 

This section describes the major applications today and those expected in the future (loose till applications excluded). Each paragraph is divided into a part describing the application in general and a part specific for Ecoflex or Ecovio . An overview of applications and volumes for the whole biodegradable polymer market in 2007... 

In view of the necessity for getting waste disposal under control coupled with the limited fossil raw material resources, biodegradable polymer and in particular polymers from renewable resources will gain importance in the future. In the most sensitive application area, food contact materials and articles, it is possible initially to use these materials in very limited amounts. The easy decomposition of these packaging materials is in opposition with the inertness needed to protect packaged food. These polymers are particularly sensitive to moisture. By finishing operations such as surface treatments, one could improve the inertness of these polymers. However, the degradability would be diminished by such processes. 

At the moment, there are a growing number of biodegradable polymers performing well in niche applications. Many of these materials can be even more cost competitive in the future compared to petroleum-based resins including PET, polyethylene (PE), and polypropylene (PP) as suppliers develop better material properties that can lead to thinner films or lower processing costs. 

Loose-fill packaging was one of the first successful areas of application for starch-based biodegradable polymers. Loose-fill starch-based foam is used for packaging consumer products as an alternative to polystyrene and polyethylene. While, biodegradable plastics have made some inroads into these markets, the future prospects for their growth in loose-fill are not so exciting as they are in some other areas of packaging. 

Sutures are the major area of application for biodegradable polymers in the medical devices market. However, the sutures market is mature and is not expected to grow rapidly in the future. 

In this article, the various biomaterials described have, in general, been considered separately. However, the use of biodegradable polymers in tissue engineering and the fabrication of hydrogels by self-assembly suggest that future developments in biomaterials research may benefit from an increasingly integrated approach. 

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