Development of biodegradable blends and composites from natural resources

The massive globalization of food plastic packaging has considerably increased the volume of plastic waste in cities, beaches, maritime transport and industries. When these debris end up in marine environment this translates into 13 billion $ of annual losses, caused by damage to marine ecosystems, fisheries and tourism. Plastics and synthetic polymers are usually produced from petrochemical sources and their derived products cannot be biodegraded. For this reason, the production of plastics based on bio based and biodegradable and / or recyclable biopolymers are taking off, and can be proposed in different sectors due to their low environmental impact and independence on fossil resources. In this study, we developed blends and composites based on PLA and PHA adding natural fibres (nano chitin-lignocellulosic fibres) from renewable resources. One of the main limitations in the application of PHAs and PLA is their relatively high cost 7–12 €/kg and 3-4 €/kg respectively, compared to other biopolymers, restricting their use to high-value applications, such as those in medical and pharmaceutical sectors. In this thesis several materials with technical properties sound for different applications, such as in packaging, agriculture, etc have been developed and produced to replace the conventional petro-plastic derivatives, not biodegradable and hardly recyclable, with something valuable in terms of performances, sustainability and final cost. A study of the effect of different polymeric matrices on final performance of the material has been conducted as well as investigation of the effect of different additives on properties including degradability. Finally for some products the sustainability has also been considered by Life Cycle Assessment studies.