Polyolefins additive Totally Degradable Plastic

Tung J-F, Wiles D M, Cermak B E, Gho J G and Hare C W J, Totally degradable polyolefin products . Proceedings of the Fifth International Plastics Additives and Modifiers Conference, paper 17, Prague, 1999. 

Crystalline starch beads can be used as a natural filler in traditional plastics [3]. They have been particularly used in polyolefins. When blended with starch beads, polyethylene films biodeteriorate upon exposure to a soil environment. The microbial consumption of the starch component leads to increased porosity, void formation, and loss of integrity of the plastic matrix. Generally, starch is added at fairly low concentrations (6-15 wt%). The total disintegration of these materials is obtained using transition metal compounds, soluble in the thermoplastic matrix, used as pro-oxidant additives to catalyze the photo and thermo-oxidative processes [4]. These products belong to the first generation of degradable polymers that biodeteriorate more than mineralize to CO2 and H2O in a time... 

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