Biodegradation of polymer

Biodegradation can be either oxidative (aerobic) or reductive (anaerobic) depending on the environment the polymer is placed in. In the latter case, CH, and sometimes NH3 are formed as by-products of the degradation. Eor glucose, the biodegradation reaction can be summarized in the following reactions. 

---

For more than 20 years, polymer scientists and plastics technologists have been working to develop plastics materials that would be more acceptable environmentally, and in the third edition of this book, published in 1975, the author devoted a section to photo- and biodegradation of polymers. In spite of such effort, an article in 1992 stated that Degradable plastics are still in the early... 

Martin DP, Zhang S, Su L, Lenz RW (1999) Extracellular polymerization of 3-hydroxyal-kanoate monomers by the synthase from Alcaligenes eutrophus. In Steinbuchel A (ed) Biochemical principles and mechanisms of biosynthesis and biodegradation of polymers. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, pp 168-175... 

Recently the biodegradability of polymers has become very important to the chemical industry and society in general. Chapter 19 describes studies on the biodegradability of polyamides by a number of bacteria. 

Table 1. Photolysis and Biodegradation, of Polymers that Undergo Primary Photofragmentation.

We have chosen to explore enzymes in themK)philic anaerobic bacteria, because these kinds of microorganisms were believed to have been the first forms of life on earth and have evolved under energy limited conditions that place stress on selection of enzymes with high catalytic efficiency (2). Thermoanaerobes contain a diverse array of enzymes with unique properties and their enzyme outfits now serve as models for understanding the biodegradation of polymers such as cellulose (5). 

To use organic molecules as a food source, microorganisms have to be able to take up the substance and metabolize it within their cells. A prerequisite is that the molecules are water-soluble and that they are small enough to pass through the cell walls and membranes of the microorganism. Polymers are typically not water-soluble and, by definition, are not small molecules [4]. Therefore, the biodegradation of polymers typically needs to follow four distinct steps. 

Growing discussion about the limited availability of cheap fossil basic materials, and customers paying more and more attention to product life cycles, brings aspects of the biodegradability of polymer products again to the focus of attention. The replacement of synthetic polymer products with biopolymers is attractive but limited because the properties of natural polymers do not always fit the demands of processability and final product performance. PVA with its beneficial rheological... 

Builders -biodegradation of [POLYMERS, ENVIRONMENTALLY DEGRADABLE] (Vol 19) -m detersive systems [DETERGENCY] (Vol 7)... 

---