Environmental factors and kinetics of microbial degradation of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) in an aqueous medium

Abstract

Environmental factors such as oxygen, temperature, and microbial species may have significant effects on decomposition of biodegradable polymers. A representative biodegradable, thermoplastic polymer, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV), was decomposed in an aqueous medium under controlled laboratory conditions by soil microbes for the intrinsic degradation kinetics and the effects of the environmental factors on polymer biodegradation. The amount of proteins, including the PHBV depolymerases, that attached to the polymer surfaces was quite constant during the period of significant mass loss of the polymer specimens. The microbial polymer degradation followed a zero-order rate model, so the residual mass fraction of PHBV films declined linearly with time. The mixed aerobic microbial organisms from fertile soil showed a higher activity of polymer degradation than an aerobic PHBV-producing bacterium and the mixed anaerobes in the same soil. The mixed anaerobic microorganisms from barren soil decomposed the polymer at a slower rate than the anaerobes from fertile soil, and this was attributed to fewer microbial cells in the barren soil instead of the difference in the microbial species. The temperature effect on PHBV degradation can be described with an Arrhenius equation, and the activation energy is around 16 kcal/mol. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 87.