Investigation of changes in physical and mechanical parameters of biodegradable polymer films during composting

Вопросы защиты окружающей среды и улучшения экологической обстановки приобретают глобальный характер. Количество производимых в России и зарубежных странах синтетических полимерных материалов постоянно увеличивается, что заставляет задуматься о подходах к разработке современных биоразлагаемых полимерных материалов из полностью возобновляемого растительного сырья. Один из таких материалов - это линейный алифатический биополимер, полученный путем гидролиза молочной кислоты: полилактид (PLA). В данной статье представлены результаты исследований способности к биоразложению полимерных материалов на основе PLA при их компостировании в течение 3 мес. The issues of environmental protection and improvement of the ecological situation are becoming global in nature. The number of synthetic polymeric materials produced from Russia and foreign countries is constantly increasing, which makes us think about approaches to the development of modern biodegradable polymeric materials from completely renewable plant materials. One such material is a linear aliphatic biopolymer made by hydrolysis of lactic acid: polylactide (PLA). This article presents the results of studies on the biodegradability of PLA-based polymeric materials when composted for 3 months.

Using HPSEC to identify NOM fraction removal and the correlation with disinfection by-product precursors

In this study high performance size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) was used to compare an ultrafiltration (UF) membrane and alum coagulation for their capacity to remove different fractions of natural organic matter (NOM) from water. At the same time, the removal of disinfection by-product (DBP) precursors, as measured by trihalomethane formation potential (THMFP) and haloacetic acid formation potential (HAAFP), was also detected. The results show that the UF membrane mainly removed the aliphatic biopolymer fraction, while alum coagulation mainly removed the humic substances fraction. The results of DBP precursor analysis show that more THMFP was removed by the UF membrane than HAAFP, while the reverse was true for alum coagulation. It is conjectured that the aliphatic biopolymer fraction is the major precursor for trihalomethanes (THMs), while the humic substances fraction is the major precursor for haloacetic acids (HAAs).