(Wydawnictwo Politechniki Łódzkiej, 2022) Tarbuk, Anita; Čorak, Ivana; Đorđević, Dragan; Draczyński, Zbigniew
The polylactide (PLA) is the most common biodegradable material. However, its biodegradation
requires hydrolysis of PLA to oligomers or monomers before microbes can act. Hydrolytic degradation
of PLA depends on temperature, time and relative humidity. It takes months and years until complete
biodegradation. If a catalyst is introduced, i.e. alkali or alcohol, it can be done in weeks. In this article,
the alkaline hydrolysis was performed at low temperatures 40-60°C without and with the addition of
cationic compound as an accelerator for the purpose of saving energy and time for complete PLA
degradation. It has been shown that complete degradation can be achieved in only 10 min at 40°C.
