Abstract

Superabsorbent poly(potassium acrylate) (P(KA)) and poly[acrylamide-co-(potassium acrylate)] (P(Am-co-KA)) were synthesized and their effective degradation via chemical and biological processes were pursued. Significant reductions in dry mass and water absorbency were observed after P(KA) (53% and 54%, respectively) and P(Am-co-KA) (43% and 40%, respectively) were buried in the soil for ten weeks, indicating their partial biodegradation. Although the living fungal culture failed to degrade the polymers, digestion by its crude peroxidase (20 U/g, 16 h) significantly decreased the dry mass (15%; 15.0 ± 0.3 g) and water absorbency (13%; 16.0 ± 1.0 g/g) of P(KA). Chemical oxidation using H₂O₂ at high temperature with/without peroxidase efficiently liquidized both polymers specifying significant changes of their structures. The maximum degradation of P(KA) (99.84% weight loss) was obtained when incubated with 12.8% (v/w) H₂O₂ at 65 °C for 7.3 h while 98.43% weight loss was achieved after P(Am-co-KA) was incubated with 14.8% (v/w) H₂O₂ at 68 °C for 9.2 h. To assess the phytotoxicity of the degraded products, their effect on seed germination was determined. No significant inhibition was observed in mung bean germinating on both the untreated polymers and their oxidized products. On sweet corn, the degraded products were apparently less inhibitory than did the untreated polymers. These results suggested that the rapid and efficient degradation of polyacrylate and its copolymer by the thermo-oxidation of H₂O₂ could be applied for a larger scale of superabsorbent waste management.

Graphic abstract

中文翻译：

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过氧化氢热氧化快速降解超吸收性聚丙烯酸钾及其丙烯酰胺共聚物

摘要

合成了高吸收性聚丙烯酸钾（P（KA））和聚[丙烯酰胺-共-（丙烯酸钾）（P（Am- co -KA）），并通过化学和生物学方法对其进行了有效降解。P（KA）（分别为53％和54％）和P（AM-后观察到在干质量和吸水性显著削减CO -KA）（分别为43％和40％，）被埋在土中十周，表明其部分生物降解。尽管活性真菌培养物无法降解聚合物，但通过其粗过氧化物酶（20 U / g，16 h）消化可显着降低干重（15％； 15.0±0.3 g）和吸水率（13％； 16.0±1.0 g） / g）。使用H ₂ O _2进行化学氧化在有/没有过氧化物酶的情况下，在高温下有效地将两种聚合物均化，表明它们的结构发生了重大变化。当与12.8％（v / w）H ₂ O ₂在65°C孵育7.3 h时，P（KA）的最大降解（重量损失为99.84％）获得，而P（Am- co）达到98.43％的重量损失-KA）与14.8％（v / w）H ₂ O ₂一起孵育在68℃下9.2小时。为了评估降解产物的植物毒性，确定了它们对种子发芽的影响。在未处理的聚合物及其氧化产物上发芽的绿豆中均未观察到明显的抑制作用。在甜玉米上，降解产物的抑制作用明显小于未处理的聚合物。这些结果表明，通过H ₂ O ₂的热氧化，聚丙烯酸酯及其共聚物的快速有效降解可用于大规模的超吸收废物管理。

图形摘要