Assessment of Potato Starch-Polyethylene Composites Biodegradability Caused by Pseudomonas Aeruginosa and Soil Burial

Haydar Zaman; Ruhul A. Khan

doi:10.37591/etce.v10i3.7610

Abstract

Plastics are a vital portion of modern life that is used in our everyday lives such as food packaging, construction ingredients, insulating, and many more. Plastic is a synthetic or semi-synthetic ingredient that does not rust in the natural ambiance. Worldwide plastic production is more than 78 million tons per year and about half of it is dumped in a short period, leaving behind decades of waste and landfill (more than 30 years). Plastic shopping bags are made from low-density polythene (LDPE) which reasons ecological difficulties as most of the plastic ingredient is stored in waste and underground for a long time. The key shortcoming is that they are not ecological, and attempts have been made to accelerate biodegradation. A material that must be decayed, developing for any reason, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, as well as being buried in the ground is interesting enough to reveal. In this article, potato starch (PS) was physically mixed with LDPE matrix by melt compound technique and then injection molded to form PS/LDPE composite sheet. The effect of PS content and chemical treatment using sodium tripolyphosphate (STP) with additives on the properties of composites were studied. Mechanical test results show that the loss of tensile strength and elongation at break of untreated and treated composites increased as the PS content increased. Exposure to PS/LDPE composites in Pseudomonas aeruginosa as well as soil environments were implemented to analyze the biodegradability of composite. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the soil environment have lost weight and lost tensile properties due to an increase in PS and exposure time, respectively. Treated PS composites also exhibit less degradation than untreated PS/LDPE composites.