Humid burial environments

Passive soil burial experiments (Table 1.3) are often done under laboratory conditions, with soil and fibers incubated in closed containers. Typically, the soil and the fibers are moistened and the incubation container is sealed to ensure an adequate supply of water for microbial activity. For example, Peacock [43] maintained 65% relative humidity in incubation containers that contained linen, cotton, silk and wool in two different soil types. The goal of this work was to simulate wet archaeological burial environments to assess the decay of textile fabrics. The order of susceptibility to biodegradation was found to be linen > cotton > wool > silk. No nutrients were added to these soils [43]. In contrast, Modelli et al. [18] used the soil burial method (Table 1.3), but added ammonium and phosphate to stimulate microbial activity to ensure these essential nutrients were not limiting in the moistened soil. These were incubated under aerobic conditions for up to 180 days. 

PBS and its copolymers can be degraded in various environments, such as natural water, soil burial, activated sludge, and compost. The environmental biodegradation rate is sensitive to both the properties of the polyester and the environment, e.g., the microorganisms, nutrient, temperature, and humidity. Eor instance, Bionolle has different biodegradation rates in various enviromnents, as presented in Table 7 (Fujimaki 1998). Table 8 shows biodegradation properties of several aliphatic polyesters in different waters (Kasuya et al. 1998). It has been demonstrated that... 

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