Journal of Pollution

Characterization of biodegradable poly (propylene carbonate) for food packaging application

Abstract

Fariba Dehghani and Bahareh Bahramian

The development of a new generation of renewable materials, in particular, thermoplastic and biodegradable polymers is desirable for packaging and many other applications to tackle the major issues of disposing of non-degradable polymers in landfills. Aliphatic biodegradable polymers such as poly (propylene carbonate) (PPC) can be considered as an alternative to non-degradable polymers. PPC is a partially renewable polymer from feedstock such as CO2 and propylene oxide (PO). In this study, we assess the potential of PPC for food packaging applications. To this context, we compared the physicochemical properties of PPC with commercial polymers such as low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and poly (butyrate abdicate terephthalate) (Eco-Flex) that are currently used for food packaging.