Biodegradability of poly-propiolactone (PPL), one of the biodegradable plastics, under thermophilic composting was examined by using a bench-scaled composting apparatus. Since the PPL can be converted to CO
2 and H
2O when it is completely decomposed by microorganisms, the percentage of biodegradability was obtained by determining the percentage of carbon in the PPL that was converted to CO
2 during composting. Quantity of CO
2 evolution accompanied with PPL decomposition was estimated by the difference of cumulative CO
2 evolution between compostings with and without addition of PPL. The difference in CO
2 evolution became larger with the composting progress suggesting that the degradation of PPL occurred at the late stage. Biodegradation of PPL proceeded faster at around 40-50°C than at 60°C when dog food was used as a composting raw material, and approximately 37% of PPL decomposed to CO
2 no more than 8 days at the 50°C composting. In addition, biodegradability of PPL was found to be dependent on the kind of seeds used for composting.
Furthermore, it was also confirmed that the PPL was degraded ca. 40% for 19 days of thermophilic composting process where garbage was tried to use as a composting raw material instead of dog food.
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