Biodegradable Polymers: Opportunities and Challenges

The overuse of polymer materials from fossil sources has generated a large volume of waste that causes environmental impacts due to the degradation time. The technological advance has stimulated the search for alternatives that can contribute to sustainability. In this context, the use of biodegradable polymers, that use raw materials from renewable sources stand out because they have that ability to form films and come from abundant sources. Also, in the expectation of optimizing the environmental benefits in this process, it is possible to value the agroindustrial residues, using them as raw material in the synthesis of the polymer, the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of these polymers are important to evaluate the possible applications. The proposal of this chapter is to present current research on renewable sources, including agricultural and industrial residues, to obtain biodegradable polymers, highlighting their properties and possibilities of application. Evaluation of the effects of the silicone liquid rubber to formulations of chitosan and alginate membranes both with and without silver-containing antimicrobial agent, to improve the overall mechanical properties of the dressings. It found that membranes containing the silicone rubber had a more homogeneous appearance and adequate flexibility and adhesiveness, increasing in tensile strength, both with and without the antimicrobial agent. In addition, the membranes without the antimicrobial agent resulted in a decrease in absorption of all physiological solutions tested. Development chitosan/gelatin composite films embedded with various amounts of wool nanoparticles. In conclusion, it was found that incorporation of wool nanoparticles into chitosan/gelatin composite led to a reduction in swelling, moisture content, dissolution degree and degradation rate of the films. However, tensile strength and elongation at break decreased upon loading the films with wool nanoparticles. films the biodegradable synthetic polymer poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT), concluding that the incorporation of saturated fatty acids until 12 carbon atoms reduces the permeability to water vapor and improves the mechanical properties of films made of starch, glycerol, and PBAT produced by extrusion, contributing to the formation of a cohesive and homogeneous polymer matrix. plasticizer sorbitol maltitol plasticize polyol