Degradation products of synthetic polymers as emerging environmental contaminants

Degradation products of synthetic polymers as emerging environmental contaminants

Peer-reviewed article not indexed in WoS or Scopus

Synthetic polymers are widely used due to their excellent properties which can be "tailored" with respect to their planned use. The worldwide production of synthetic polymers is constantly increasing and these materials are used in a wide range of products. At the end of the product life cycle great part of the polymers is disposed on the waste dumps, where they remain usually for quite a long time and undergo various environmental degradation mechanisms. Due to huge amount of produced polymers it is advisable to evaluate the polymer degradation pathways, to identify the degradation products and to evaluate their possible environmental effects. In this study we focused our attention on the degradation mechanism and identification of degradation products of polyurethane foams, whose biodegradability was enhanced by the addition of biodegradable and bio-originated filler.

Synthetic polymers are widely used due to their excellent properties which can be "tailored" with respect to their planned use. The worldwide production of synthetic polymers is constantly increasing and these materials are used in a wide range of products. At the end of the product life cycle great part of the polymers is disposed on the waste dumps, where they remain usually for quite a long time and undergo various environmental degradation mechanisms. Due to huge amount of produced polymers it is advisable to evaluate the polymer degradation pathways, to identify the degradation products and to evaluate their possible environmental effects. In this study we focused our attention on the degradation mechanism and identification of degradation products of polyurethane foams, whose biodegradability was enhanced by the addition of biodegradable and bio-originated filler.

polyurethane, environmental degradation, degradation products identification

polyurethane, environmental degradation, degradation products identification

ČÁSLAVSKÝ, J.; VÁVROVÁ, M.; MÁCOVÁ, D.; MRAVCOVÁ, L.

2010

28.08.2008

Česká společnost chemická

Praha

1213-7103

CHEMICKE LISTY

102

15

Czech Republic

s290

s292

3