The assessment of the intrinsic biodegradability of plastic materials is made under optimized environmental conditions in order not to limit the microbial growth and activity and follow the biodegradation process until completion. In particular, biodegradation tests are carried out at constant temperature in the range between 20 and 28 °C in order to favour the growth of mesophilic microorganisms. On the other hand, if the purpose is to predict the environmental fate of consumer or professional products made with biodegradable plastics after accidental or deliberate release into the environment, then the biodegradation rate attainable under less optimal conditions should be estimated.

In this work pellets of a commercial biodegradable plastic material were tested for soil biodegradation at 28, 20, and 15 °C. The CO₂ evolution was followed for more than one year using the ASTM D 5988–18 test method. The mineralization rates (mg C/day, i.e. the amount of organic carbon converted into CO₂ per day) were determined by applying a linear regression from day 140 onwards on the organic carbon depletion curves, when the biodegradation reaction was constant. The specific mineralization rates, i.e. the rate per surface area unit (mg C/day/cm²) were determined by dividing the mineralization rates by the available surface areas of the pellets tested. A thermal performance curve (TPC) was obtained by plotting the specific mineralization rates against the respective temperatures. The TPC curve was perfectly described by an exponential model that was in agreement with the Arrhenius equation. This suggests that biodegradation is dominated by simple thermodynamic effects in the tested temperature ranges (15–28 °C). The apparent activation energy of the biodegradation reaction was 108.7 kJ/mol.

Using the TPC, it was possible to estimate the time needed for total mineralization of a product made with the test material with a given surface area when exposed to different temperatures. Clearly, the effective biodegradation rate was affected by other environmental factors (e.g. nutrients, pH, gas exchange, etc.) besides temperature.

The current work indicates that temperature, an important environmental factor, affects biodegradation rates, in accordance with the Arrhenius equation. The observation that the apparent activation energy of the biodegradation reaction does not vary with temperature in the tested temperature range indicates a persistency in the metabolic activities of the involved mesophilic microbial communities.

对塑料材料固有的生物降解性的评估是在优化的环境条件下进行的，以便不限制微生物的生长和活性，并遵循生物降解过程直至完成。特别地，为了促进嗜温微生物的生长，在20至28℃之间的恒定温度下进行生物降解测试。另一方面，如果目的是预测由可生物降解塑料制成的消费品或专业产品在无意或有意释放到环境中后的环境命运，则应估算在较差的最佳条件下可达到的生物降解率。

在这项工作中，在28、20和15°C下测试了商用可生物降解塑料颗粒的土壤生物降解能力。使用ASTM D 5988–18测试方法追踪了CO ₂排放超过一年的情况。当生物降解反应恒定时，通过从第140天起对有机碳消耗曲线进行线性回归，确定矿化速率（mg C /天，即每天转化为CO ₂的有机碳量）。比矿化速率，即每表面积单位的速率（mg C / day / cm ²通过将矿化速率除以测试颗粒的可用表面积来确定）。通过将特定矿化速率相对于各个温度作图，可获得热性能曲线（TPC）。通过与Arrhenius方程一致的指数模型可以完美地描述TPC曲线。这表明在测试的温度范围内（15–28°C），生物降解主要由简单的热力学效应决定。生物降解反应的表观活化能为108.7kJ / mol。

使用TPC，可以估计在暴露于不同温度下，用给定表面积的测试材料制成的产品进行总矿化所需的时间。显然，有效的生物降解率还受温度以外的其他环境因素（例如养分，pH，气体交换等）的影响。

当前的工作表明，根据阿伦尼乌斯方程，温度是一种重要的环境因素，它会影响生物降解速率。在测试温度范围内，生物降解反应的表观活化能没有随温度变化的观察结果表明，所涉及的嗜温微生物群落的代谢活性持续存在。