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Stability Studies, Biodegradation Tests, and Mechanical Properties of Sodium Alginate and Gellan Gum Beads Containing Surfactant

The excessive presence of single-use plastics is rapidly degrading our natural environment on a global scale due to their inherent resistance to decomposition. Wet wipes used for personal or household purposes contribute significantly to the accumulation of plastic waste. One potential solution to a...

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Autores principales: Stachowiak, Natalia, Kowalonek, Jolanta, Kozlowska, Justyna, Burkowska-But, Aleksandra
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10255418/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37299365
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym15112568
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author Stachowiak, Natalia
Kowalonek, Jolanta
Kozlowska, Justyna
Burkowska-But, Aleksandra
author_facet Stachowiak, Natalia
Kowalonek, Jolanta
Kozlowska, Justyna
Burkowska-But, Aleksandra
author_sort Stachowiak, Natalia
collection PubMed
description The excessive presence of single-use plastics is rapidly degrading our natural environment on a global scale due to their inherent resistance to decomposition. Wet wipes used for personal or household purposes contribute significantly to the accumulation of plastic waste. One potential solution to address this problem involves developing eco-friendly materials that possess the ability to degrade naturally while retaining their washing capabilities. For this purpose, the beads from sodium alginate, gellan gum, and a mixture of these natural polymers containing surfactant were produced using the ionotropic gelation method. Stability studies of the beads by observing their appearance and diameter were performed after incubation in solutions of different pH values. The images showed that macroparticles were reduced in size in an acidic medium and swelled in solution of pH-neutral phosphate-buffered saline. Moreover, all the beads first swelled and then degraded in alkaline conditions. The beads based on gellan gum and combining both polymers were the least sensitive to pH changes. The compression tests revealed that the stiffness of all macroparticles decreased with the increasing pH of the solutions in which they were immersed. The studied beads were more rigid in an acidic solution than in alkaline conditions. The biodegradation of macroparticles was assessed using a respirometric method in soil and seawater. It is important to note that the macroparticles degraded more rapidly in soil than in seawater.
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spelling pubmed-102554182023-06-10 Stability Studies, Biodegradation Tests, and Mechanical Properties of Sodium Alginate and Gellan Gum Beads Containing Surfactant Stachowiak, Natalia Kowalonek, Jolanta Kozlowska, Justyna Burkowska-But, Aleksandra Polymers (Basel) Article The excessive presence of single-use plastics is rapidly degrading our natural environment on a global scale due to their inherent resistance to decomposition. Wet wipes used for personal or household purposes contribute significantly to the accumulation of plastic waste. One potential solution to address this problem involves developing eco-friendly materials that possess the ability to degrade naturally while retaining their washing capabilities. For this purpose, the beads from sodium alginate, gellan gum, and a mixture of these natural polymers containing surfactant were produced using the ionotropic gelation method. Stability studies of the beads by observing their appearance and diameter were performed after incubation in solutions of different pH values. The images showed that macroparticles were reduced in size in an acidic medium and swelled in solution of pH-neutral phosphate-buffered saline. Moreover, all the beads first swelled and then degraded in alkaline conditions. The beads based on gellan gum and combining both polymers were the least sensitive to pH changes. The compression tests revealed that the stiffness of all macroparticles decreased with the increasing pH of the solutions in which they were immersed. The studied beads were more rigid in an acidic solution than in alkaline conditions. The biodegradation of macroparticles was assessed using a respirometric method in soil and seawater. It is important to note that the macroparticles degraded more rapidly in soil than in seawater. MDPI 2023-06-02 /pmc/articles/PMC10255418/ /pubmed/37299365 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym15112568 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Stachowiak, Natalia
Kowalonek, Jolanta
Kozlowska, Justyna
Burkowska-But, Aleksandra
Stability Studies, Biodegradation Tests, and Mechanical Properties of Sodium Alginate and Gellan Gum Beads Containing Surfactant
title Stability Studies, Biodegradation Tests, and Mechanical Properties of Sodium Alginate and Gellan Gum Beads Containing Surfactant
title_full Stability Studies, Biodegradation Tests, and Mechanical Properties of Sodium Alginate and Gellan Gum Beads Containing Surfactant
title_fullStr Stability Studies, Biodegradation Tests, and Mechanical Properties of Sodium Alginate and Gellan Gum Beads Containing Surfactant
title_full_unstemmed Stability Studies, Biodegradation Tests, and Mechanical Properties of Sodium Alginate and Gellan Gum Beads Containing Surfactant
title_short Stability Studies, Biodegradation Tests, and Mechanical Properties of Sodium Alginate and Gellan Gum Beads Containing Surfactant
title_sort stability studies, biodegradation tests, and mechanical properties of sodium alginate and gellan gum beads containing surfactant
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10255418/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37299365
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym15112568
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