Polyester biodegradability: importance and potential for optimisation
To reduce global CO emissions in line with EU targets, it is essential that we replace fossil-derived plastics with renewable alternatives. This provides an opportunity to develop novel plastics with improved design features, such as better reusability, recyclability, and environmental biodegradabil...
Saved in:
| Published in: | Green chemistry : an international journal and green chemistry resource : GC Vol. 26; no. 7; p. 3698 |
|---|---|
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
England
02.04.2024
|
| ISSN: | 1463-9262 |
| Online Access: | Get more information |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Abstract | To reduce global CO
emissions in line with EU targets, it is essential that we replace fossil-derived plastics with renewable alternatives. This provides an opportunity to develop novel plastics with improved design features, such as better reusability, recyclability, and environmental biodegradability. Although recycling and reuse of plastics is favoured, this relies heavily on the infrastructure of waste management, which is not consistently advanced on a worldwide scale. Furthermore, today's bulk polyolefin plastics are inherently unsuitable for closed-loop recycling, but the introduction of plastics with enhanced biodegradability could help to combat issues with plastic accumulation, especially for packaging applications. It is also important to recognise that plastics enter the environment through littering, even where the best waste-collection infrastructure is in place. This causes endless environmental accumulation when the plastics are non-(bio)degradable. Biodegradability depends heavily on circumstances; some biodegradable polymers degrade rapidly under tropical conditions in soil, but they may not also degrade at the bottom of the sea. Biodegradable polyesters are theoretically recyclable, and even if mechanical recycling is difficult, they can be broken down to their monomers by hydrolysis for subsequent purification and re-polymerisation. Additionally, both the physical properties and the biodegradability of polyesters are tuneable by varying their building blocks. The relationship between the (chemical) structures/compositions (aromatic, branched, linear, polar/apolar monomers; monomer chain length) and biodegradation/hydrolysis of polyesters is discussed here in the context of the design of biodegradable polyesters. |
|---|---|
| AbstractList | To reduce global CO2 emissions in line with EU targets, it is essential that we replace fossil-derived plastics with renewable alternatives. This provides an opportunity to develop novel plastics with improved design features, such as better reusability, recyclability, and environmental biodegradability. Although recycling and reuse of plastics is favoured, this relies heavily on the infrastructure of waste management, which is not consistently advanced on a worldwide scale. Furthermore, today's bulk polyolefin plastics are inherently unsuitable for closed-loop recycling, but the introduction of plastics with enhanced biodegradability could help to combat issues with plastic accumulation, especially for packaging applications. It is also important to recognise that plastics enter the environment through littering, even where the best waste-collection infrastructure is in place. This causes endless environmental accumulation when the plastics are non-(bio)degradable. Biodegradability depends heavily on circumstances; some biodegradable polymers degrade rapidly under tropical conditions in soil, but they may not also degrade at the bottom of the sea. Biodegradable polyesters are theoretically recyclable, and even if mechanical recycling is difficult, they can be broken down to their monomers by hydrolysis for subsequent purification and re-polymerisation. Additionally, both the physical properties and the biodegradability of polyesters are tuneable by varying their building blocks. The relationship between the (chemical) structures/compositions (aromatic, branched, linear, polar/apolar monomers; monomer chain length) and biodegradation/hydrolysis of polyesters is discussed here in the context of the design of biodegradable polyesters.To reduce global CO2 emissions in line with EU targets, it is essential that we replace fossil-derived plastics with renewable alternatives. This provides an opportunity to develop novel plastics with improved design features, such as better reusability, recyclability, and environmental biodegradability. Although recycling and reuse of plastics is favoured, this relies heavily on the infrastructure of waste management, which is not consistently advanced on a worldwide scale. Furthermore, today's bulk polyolefin plastics are inherently unsuitable for closed-loop recycling, but the introduction of plastics with enhanced biodegradability could help to combat issues with plastic accumulation, especially for packaging applications. It is also important to recognise that plastics enter the environment through littering, even where the best waste-collection infrastructure is in place. This causes endless environmental accumulation when the plastics are non-(bio)degradable. Biodegradability depends heavily on circumstances; some biodegradable polymers degrade rapidly under tropical conditions in soil, but they may not also degrade at the bottom of the sea. Biodegradable polyesters are theoretically recyclable, and even if mechanical recycling is difficult, they can be broken down to their monomers by hydrolysis for subsequent purification and re-polymerisation. Additionally, both the physical properties and the biodegradability of polyesters are tuneable by varying their building blocks. The relationship between the (chemical) structures/compositions (aromatic, branched, linear, polar/apolar monomers; monomer chain length) and biodegradation/hydrolysis of polyesters is discussed here in the context of the design of biodegradable polyesters. To reduce global CO emissions in line with EU targets, it is essential that we replace fossil-derived plastics with renewable alternatives. This provides an opportunity to develop novel plastics with improved design features, such as better reusability, recyclability, and environmental biodegradability. Although recycling and reuse of plastics is favoured, this relies heavily on the infrastructure of waste management, which is not consistently advanced on a worldwide scale. Furthermore, today's bulk polyolefin plastics are inherently unsuitable for closed-loop recycling, but the introduction of plastics with enhanced biodegradability could help to combat issues with plastic accumulation, especially for packaging applications. It is also important to recognise that plastics enter the environment through littering, even where the best waste-collection infrastructure is in place. This causes endless environmental accumulation when the plastics are non-(bio)degradable. Biodegradability depends heavily on circumstances; some biodegradable polymers degrade rapidly under tropical conditions in soil, but they may not also degrade at the bottom of the sea. Biodegradable polyesters are theoretically recyclable, and even if mechanical recycling is difficult, they can be broken down to their monomers by hydrolysis for subsequent purification and re-polymerisation. Additionally, both the physical properties and the biodegradability of polyesters are tuneable by varying their building blocks. The relationship between the (chemical) structures/compositions (aromatic, branched, linear, polar/apolar monomers; monomer chain length) and biodegradation/hydrolysis of polyesters is discussed here in the context of the design of biodegradable polyesters. |
| Author | Gruter, Gert-Jan M Wang, Yue Tietema, Albert Parsons, John R van Putten, Robert-Jan |
| Author_xml | – sequence: 1 givenname: Yue orcidid: 0000-0001-5663-5986 surname: Wang fullname: Wang, Yue email: g.j.m.gruter@uva.nl organization: Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam Science Park 904 1098 XH Amsterdam The Netherlands – sequence: 2 givenname: Robert-Jan surname: van Putten fullname: van Putten, Robert-Jan email: robert-jan.vanputten@avantium.com organization: Avantium Support BV Zekeringstraat 29 1014 BV Amsterdam The Netherlands robert-jan.vanputten@avantium.com – sequence: 3 givenname: Albert surname: Tietema fullname: Tietema, Albert organization: Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam Science Park 904 1098 XH Amsterdam The Netherlands – sequence: 4 givenname: John R orcidid: 0000-0003-1785-3627 surname: Parsons fullname: Parsons, John R organization: Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam Science Park 904 1098 XH Amsterdam The Netherlands – sequence: 5 givenname: Gert-Jan M orcidid: 0000-0003-4213-0025 surname: Gruter fullname: Gruter, Gert-Jan M email: g.j.m.gruter@uva.nl, robert-jan.vanputten@avantium.com organization: Avantium Support BV Zekeringstraat 29 1014 BV Amsterdam The Netherlands robert-jan.vanputten@avantium.com |
| BackLink | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38571729$$D View this record in MEDLINE/PubMed |
| BookMark | eNo1jztPwzAUhT0U0Qcs_ACUkSXgV-KYDVXlIVWCAeboOr6uDIkdHHfov6eIMh3p6NPRd5ZkFmJAQq4YvWVU6Dsrdh2VstFfM7Jgshal5jWfk-U0fVLKmKrlOZmLplJMcb0gm7fYH3DKmArjo8VdAgvG9z4f7gs_jDFlCB0WEGwxxowhe-gLF1MRx-wHP0H2MVyQMwf9hJenXJGPx837-rncvj69rB-2ZSe5zqVjXKKrOjTAmDTMghSm0erYozToDAitoVGWK25E54AbI3TlHFS1gqbmK3Lztzum-L0_ardHgw77HgLG_dQKKgSlqqG_6PUJ3ZsBbTsmP0A6tP_X-Q_FEFwc |
| CitedBy_id | crossref_primary_10_1007_s10118_024_3199_0 crossref_primary_10_1039_D5SM00646E crossref_primary_10_1016_j_scitotenv_2024_177503 crossref_primary_10_1039_D5VA00064E crossref_primary_10_1016_j_eurpolymj_2025_114102 crossref_primary_10_1021_polymscitech_5c00010 crossref_primary_10_1007_s10118_024_3179_4 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_eurpolymj_2025_114309 crossref_primary_10_1007_s10924_025_03542_3 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_polymdegradstab_2025_111222 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_polymdegradstab_2025_111323 crossref_primary_10_1002_ange_202505070 crossref_primary_10_3390_molecules29225452 crossref_primary_10_1007_s11426_024_2370_6 crossref_primary_10_3390_polym16121735 crossref_primary_10_1039_D5SC05510E crossref_primary_10_1016_j_polymdegradstab_2025_111185 crossref_primary_10_1002_aic_18933 crossref_primary_10_1134_S0097807824604977 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_hazadv_2025_100865 crossref_primary_10_1002_ange_202417075 crossref_primary_10_1002_pol_20240364 crossref_primary_10_1002_mame_202500120 crossref_primary_10_3390_coatings15040400 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_biotechadv_2025_108589 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_jre_2025_07_015 crossref_primary_10_1021_acsomega_4c10602 crossref_primary_10_1088_2515_7620_ad53a9 crossref_primary_10_1021_acs_inorgchem_5c00790 crossref_primary_10_1039_D4PY00551A crossref_primary_10_3390_macromol5030035 crossref_primary_10_1002_anie_202417075 crossref_primary_10_1039_D5TA02177D crossref_primary_10_1002_anie_202505070 crossref_primary_10_1039_D4PY01382D |
| ContentType | Journal Article |
| Copyright | This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry. |
| Copyright_xml | – notice: This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry. |
| DBID | NPM 7X8 |
| DOI | 10.1039/d3gc04489k |
| DatabaseName | PubMed MEDLINE - Academic |
| DatabaseTitle | PubMed MEDLINE - Academic |
| DatabaseTitleList | MEDLINE - Academic PubMed |
| Database_xml | – sequence: 1 dbid: NPM name: PubMed url: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed sourceTypes: Index Database – sequence: 2 dbid: 7X8 name: MEDLINE - Academic url: https://search.proquest.com/medline sourceTypes: Aggregation Database |
| DeliveryMethod | no_fulltext_linktorsrc |
| Discipline | Engineering Chemistry Environmental Sciences |
| ExternalDocumentID | 38571729 |
| Genre | Journal Article Review |
| GroupedDBID | -JG 0-7 0R~ 29I 4.4 5GY 705 70~ 7~J AAEMU AAHBH AAIWI AAJAE AAMEH AANOJ AAWGC AAXHV AAXPP ABASK ABDVN ABEMK ABJNI ABPDG ABRYZ ABXOH ACGFO ACGFS ACIWK ACLDK ADMRA ADSRN ADVLN AEFDR AENEX AENGV AESAV AETIL AFLYV AFOGI AFRAH AFRDS AFRZK AFVBQ AGEGJ AGKEF AGRSR AGSTE AHGCF AITUG AKRWK ALMA_UNASSIGNED_HOLDINGS AMRAJ ANUXI APEMP ASKNT AUDPV BLAPV BSQNT C6K COF CS3 D0L DU5 EBS ECGLT EE0 EF- F5P FDB GGIMP GNO HZ~ H~N IDZ J3I M4U N9A NPM O9- OK1 P2P R7B RAOCF RCNCU RNS RPMJG RRA RRC RSCEA SKA SLH VH6 7X8 AKMSF ALUYA H13 R56 |
| ID | FETCH-LOGICAL-c429t-f124ef5ceba114b1da43b897f12e4befba399a87d272b3cfa2bb395ffa567a862 |
| IEDL.DBID | 7X8 |
| ISICitedReferencesCount | 43 |
| ISICitedReferencesURI | http://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=Summon&SrcAuth=ProQuest&DestLinkType=CitingArticles&DestApp=WOS_CPL&KeyUT=001178171600001&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcvtisr.summon.serialssolutions.com%2F%23%21%2Fsearch%3Fho%3Df%26include.ft.matches%3Dt%26l%3Dnull%26q%3D |
| ISSN | 1463-9262 |
| IngestDate | Thu Oct 02 06:39:18 EDT 2025 Wed Feb 19 02:03:50 EST 2025 |
| IsDoiOpenAccess | false |
| IsOpenAccess | true |
| IsPeerReviewed | true |
| IsScholarly | true |
| Issue | 7 |
| Language | English |
| License | This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry. |
| LinkModel | DirectLink |
| MergedId | FETCHMERGED-LOGICAL-c429t-f124ef5ceba114b1da43b897f12e4befba399a87d272b3cfa2bb395ffa567a862 |
| Notes | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 ObjectType-Review-3 content type line 23 |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5663-5986 0000-0003-1785-3627 0000-0003-4213-0025 |
| OpenAccessLink | https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2024/gc/d3gc04489k |
| PMID | 38571729 |
| PQID | 3033007806 |
| PQPubID | 23479 |
| ParticipantIDs | proquest_miscellaneous_3033007806 pubmed_primary_38571729 |
| PublicationCentury | 2000 |
| PublicationDate | 2024-04-02 |
| PublicationDateYYYYMMDD | 2024-04-02 |
| PublicationDate_xml | – month: 04 year: 2024 text: 2024-04-02 day: 02 |
| PublicationDecade | 2020 |
| PublicationPlace | England |
| PublicationPlace_xml | – name: England |
| PublicationTitle | Green chemistry : an international journal and green chemistry resource : GC |
| PublicationTitleAlternate | Green Chem |
| PublicationYear | 2024 |
| SSID | ssj0011764 |
| Score | 2.5926828 |
| SecondaryResourceType | review_article |
| Snippet | To reduce global CO
emissions in line with EU targets, it is essential that we replace fossil-derived plastics with renewable alternatives. This provides an... To reduce global CO2 emissions in line with EU targets, it is essential that we replace fossil-derived plastics with renewable alternatives. This provides an... |
| SourceID | proquest pubmed |
| SourceType | Aggregation Database Index Database |
| StartPage | 3698 |
| Title | Polyester biodegradability: importance and potential for optimisation |
| URI | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38571729 https://www.proquest.com/docview/3033007806 |
| Volume | 26 |
| WOSCitedRecordID | wos001178171600001&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcvtisr.summon.serialssolutions.com%2F%23%21%2Fsearch%3Fho%3Df%26include.ft.matches%3Dt%26l%3Dnull%26q%3D |
| hasFullText | |
| inHoldings | 1 |
| isFullTextHit | |
| isPrint | |
| link | http://cvtisr.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwpV1LS8NAEB7UCurBR7VaX0TwGkx2k27iRaS0eLH0oNBb2KcUbVJNFfrvnd0k1IsgeMlhycAyOzvzze7sNwDXGMQlESn1Q5VigpIQ5nNEsb4MVcJYYHgojGs2wUajZDJJx_WBW1mXVTY-0TlqVUh7Rn6DrpbaeBb07ubvvu0aZW9X6xYa69CiCGWsVbPJ6hYhZI4-Cp0B9S0vXkNPStMbRV9kgKlJ-vo7tHQhZrj338ntw24NLr37yhoOYE3nbdjqNz3d2rDzg36wDZ3B6pUbitXbvDyEwbh4WzoKBU9MC2X5JFTF57289aYzB9nxT4_nypsXC1twhPIIf70CPdCsrhA6gufh4Kn_4Nf9FnyJUWnhG4z12sRSC45ZkggVj6hIUobjOhLaCI4q5glThBFBpeFECJrGxvC4xzimRh3YyItcn4CHi6yN0mEviEwUCcG50MQmn0RIHCdduGoUmeGs7CUFz3XxWWYrVXbhuFqNbF4Rb2Q0iTH7JOnpH6TPYJsg_nBFNuQcWgZ3s76ATfm1mJYfl85Q8DsaP34DyIzLhQ |
| linkProvider | ProQuest |
| openUrl | ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fsummon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Polyester+biodegradability%3A+importance+and+potential+for+optimisation&rft.jtitle=Green+chemistry+%3A+an+international+journal+and+green+chemistry+resource+%3A+GC&rft.au=Wang%2C+Yue&rft.au=van+Putten%2C+Robert-Jan&rft.au=Tietema%2C+Albert&rft.au=Parsons%2C+John+R&rft.date=2024-04-02&rft.issn=1463-9262&rft.volume=26&rft.issue=7&rft.spage=3698&rft_id=info:doi/10.1039%2Fd3gc04489k&rft.externalDBID=NO_FULL_TEXT |
| thumbnail_l | http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/lc.gif&issn=1463-9262&client=summon |
| thumbnail_m | http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/mc.gif&issn=1463-9262&client=summon |
| thumbnail_s | http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/sc.gif&issn=1463-9262&client=summon |