Abstract
In this article, the degradability by Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus clavatus of three bio-based polyurethane (PU) foams is compared to previous degradability studies involving a Pseudomonas sp. bacterium and similar initial materials (Spontón et al. in Int. Biodet. Biodeg. 85:85–94, 2013, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibiod.2013.05.019). First, three new polyester-polyurethane foams were prepared from mixtures of castor oil (CO), maleated castor oil (MACO), toluene diisocyanate (TDI), and water. Then, their degradation tests were carried out in an aqueous medium, and employing the two mentioned fungi, after their isolation from the environment. From the degradation tests, the following was observed: (a) the insoluble (and slightly collapsed) foams exhibited free hydroxyl, carboxyl, and amine moieties; and (b) the water soluble (and low molar mass) compounds contained amines, carboxylic acids, and glycerol. The most degraded foam contained the highest amount of MACO, and therefore the highest concentration of hydrolytic bonds. A basic biodegradation mechanism was proposed that involves hydrolysis and oxidation reactions.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), the Universidad Nacional del Litoral (UNL), and the Agencia Nacional de Promoción de la Investigación, el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación (Agencia I+D+i) for the financial support.
Funding
This work was sponsored by grants obtained from CONICET (Grant No. PUE2016-007), UNL (Grant No. CAI+D2020 50620190100093LI031), and Agencia I+D+i (Grant No. PICT2018-02777).
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Polo, M.L., Russell-White, K., Vaillard, S.E. et al. Bio-based polyester-polyurethane foams: synthesis and degradability by Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus clavatus. Biodegradation 35, 315–327 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-023-10059-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-023-10059-w