Elgharbawy Abdallah S, El Demerdash Abdel-Ghaffar M, Sadik Wagih A, Kasaby Mosaad A, Lotfy Ahmed H, Osman Ahmed I
Materials Science Department, Institute of Graduate Studies and Research (IGSR), Alexandria University, 163 Horrya Avenue, Shatby, P.O. Box 832, Alexandria 21526, Egypt.
The Egyptian Ethylene and Derivatives Company (Ethydco), Alexandria 21544, Egypt.
Polymers (Basel). 2024 May 10;16(10):1356. doi: 10.3390/polym16101356.
Approximately 50% of global plastic wastes are produced from plastic packaging, a substantial amount of which is disposed of within a few minutes of its use. Although many plastic types are designed for single use, they are not always disposable. It is now widely acknowledged that the production and disposal of plastics have led to a plethora of negative consequences, including the contamination of both groundwater and soil resources and the deterioration of human health. The undeniable impact of excessive plastic manufacturing and waste generation on the global plastic pollution crisis has been well documented. Therefore, degradable polymers are a crucial solution to the problem of the non-degradation of plastic wastes. The disadvantage of degradable polymers is their high cost, so blending them with natural polymers will reduce the cost of final products and maximize their degradation rate, making degradable polymers competitive with industrial polymers that are currently in use daily. In this work, we will delineate various degradable polymers, including polycaprolactone, starch, and cellulose. Furthermore, we will elucidate several aspects of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and its blends with natural polymers to show the effects of adding natural polymers on PVA properties. This paper will study cost-effective and ecologically acceptable polymers by combining inexpensive natural polymers with readily accessible biodegradable polymers such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVA).
全球约50%的塑料垃圾来自塑料包装，其中很大一部分在使用后几分钟内就被丢弃了。尽管许多塑料类型设计为一次性使用，但它们并非总是可丢弃的。现在人们普遍认识到，塑料的生产和处理已导致大量负面后果，包括对地下水和土壤资源的污染以及人类健康的恶化。过度的塑料制造和废物产生对全球塑料污染危机的不可否认的影响已有充分记录。因此，可降解聚合物是解决塑料垃圾不可降解问题的关键解决方案。可降解聚合物的缺点是成本高，因此将它们与天然聚合物混合将降低最终产品的成本并最大限度地提高其降解率，使可降解聚合物与目前日常使用的工业聚合物具有竞争力。在这项工作中，我们将描述各种可降解聚合物，包括聚己内酯、淀粉和纤维素。此外，我们将阐明聚乙烯醇（PVA）及其与天然聚合物的共混物的几个方面，以展示添加天然聚合物对PVA性能的影响。本文将通过将廉价的天然聚合物与易于获得的可生物降解聚合物（如聚乙烯醇（PVA））相结合，研究具有成本效益且生态可接受的聚合物。
