PRELIMINARY STUDY ON POLYMER DEGRADATION USING AN AEROBIC REACTOR

摘要

Polymeric materials are ubiquitous in everyday life and have become irreplaceable for almost any aspect of modern civilisation. Nonetheless, the major drawback of these materials is their short lifetime compared to their difficult disposal after use. In the last decades, scientists and certain producers have focused on the diversification of plastic materials in order to improve their impact on the environment. Derivatives of the synthetic polymers carrying moieties of natural/biodegradable backbones have emerged as efficient alternative to the classic plastic materials. The new generation of polymer scientists are determined to revolutionise the industry and turn it into an environmental friendly economic field. Our group has previously been involved in the synthesis and characterisation of sugar-based polymers with increased in vitro biodegradability. The sugar polymers have proven to degrade in liquid media with inoculum and by soil burial. The purpose of this study is the development of a new technique of sugar-polymer degradation inside an aerobic bioreactor fed with waste water from beer fabrication process. The degradation process was monitored by weight loss and the polymers displayed good susceptibility to microorganisms attack. The kinetic assessment revealed a good fit for three mathematical models: Exponential rise to maximum model, Modified Gompertz model and Logistical growth model which describe the biodegradation process. The biodegradation process was modelled using MATLAB R2018a software package with optimisation toolbox.