Development of Degradable Alternatives for Commercial Water-soluble Polymers

人们越来越关注聚合物/塑料污染对人类健康、动物和环境的不利影响。随着全球聚合物生产和消费的持续增长，预计到2050年，将有1.2万吨聚合物废物堆积在垃圾填埋场和环境中。加拿大政府2020年的一份报告指出，废物管理不当导致地表水、土壤、地下水、海岸线、饮用水、食品和野生动物受到聚合物污染。虽然它们的使用寿命通常从几个月到几年不等，但大多数聚合物需要几十到几百年的时间才能降解，这取决于条件和特定的材料。生物可降解聚合物在环境中可以分解成无害的小分子，是一种很有前途的减少聚合物污染的方法。近年来，在可生物降解聚合物的开发方面取得了进展，以取代传统聚合物应用于食品包装。然而，对水溶性聚合物的可降解替代品的关注要少得多，这些聚合物也很难分离和回收。这个与巴斯夫合作的项目将专注于研究和开发商用水溶性聚合物的可降解替代品。将制备一系列聚合物并对其进行表征。此外，还将研究它们的生物降解性与其结构的关系。它们取代当前商用聚合物的潜力将在应用测试中进行评估。预计这些可替代降解聚合物可在水处理、洗涤剂、化妆品和个人护理产品、石油加工、采矿以及纸浆和造纸等加拿大关键行业中取代传统的不可降解聚合物。

Concerns are growing regarding the adverse effects of polymer/plastic pollution on human health, animals, and the environment. With global manufacturing and consumption of polymers continuing to grow, it is predicted that by 2050 there will be 12,000 tons of polymer waste accumulated in landfills and in the environment. A 2020 Canadian government report indicated that improper management of waste led to polymer pollution in surface waters, soil, groundwater, shorelines, drinking water, food and wildlife. While their useful lifetime often ranges from a few months to a few years, most polymers require tens to hundreds of years to degrade, depending on the conditions and specific materials. Biodegradable polymers, which can be broken down into harmless small molecules in the environment are a promising approach to reduce polymer pollution. In recent years, progress has been made in the development of biodegradable polymers to replace conventional polymers for applications such as food packaging. However, much less attention has been given to degradable alternatives for water-soluble polymers, which are also very difficult to isolate and recycle. This collaborative project with BASF will focus on studying and developing degradable alternatives to commercial water-soluble polymers. A series of polymers will be prepared and characterized. In addition, their biodegradability as a function of their structure will be studied. Their potential to replace current commercial polymers will be evaluated in application testing. It is anticipated that these alternative degradable polymers can replace conventional non-degradable polymers in applications such as water treatment, detergents, cosmetics and personal care products, oil processing, mining, and pulp and paper, which are all critical industries for Canada.