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Biorelated Polymers pp 329–340Cite as

Biodegradation of Poly(Vinyl Alcohol)/Poly (β-Hydroxybutyrate) Graft Copolymers and Relevant Blends

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Abstract

In the present paper, the results are reported of an investigation on the biodegradability of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) based systems containing poly(ß-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) of both microbial and synthetic source, as attained by polymerization of racemic ß-butyrolactone. These materials, in the form of graft copolymers and blends, were submitted to the biological attack of natural soil and specific PVA-degrading microorganisms in respirometric tests. Significant levels of mineralization were recorded under soil burial conditions, though still lower than the biodegradation extent recorded by a filter paper sample utilized as biodegradable reference material. High levels of mineralization of PVA based blend and graft copolymer with atactic PHB occurred in a aqueous medium inoculated with PVA-degrading microorganisms. These results confirmed that amorphous PHB oligomers can be bioassimilated by non-PHB-degrading bacteria, also evidencing that high molecular weight atactic PHB can be degraded by the same selected microbial strains when blended with PVA.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Pisa, via Risorgimento 35, Pisa, Italy

    Emo Chiellini, Andrea Corti & Roberto Solaro

  2. Centre of Polymer Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Marii Curie Sklodowskiej 34, Zabrze, Poland

    Marek Kowalczuk

Authors
  1. Emo Chiellini
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  2. Andrea Corti
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  3. Marek Kowalczuk
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  4. Roberto Solaro
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Emo Chiellini

  2. University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Helena Gil

  3. Technical University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Gerhart Braunegg

  4. VTT Biotechnology, Espoo, Finland

    Johanna Buchert

  5. Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden

    Paul Gatenholm

  6. ATO B.V., Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Maarten van der Zee

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© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Chiellini, E., Corti, A., Kowalczuk, M., Solaro, R. (2001). Biodegradation of Poly(Vinyl Alcohol)/Poly (β-Hydroxybutyrate) Graft Copolymers and Relevant Blends. In: Chiellini, E., Gil, H., Braunegg, G., Buchert, J., Gatenholm, P., van der Zee, M. (eds) Biorelated Polymers. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-3374-7_29

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-3374-7_29

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-3369-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-3374-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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