Accelerated biodegradation of PLA/PHB-blended nonwovens by a microbial community

Abstract

reached 566.79 mg, the tensile strength decreased from 10.95 ± 0.7 to 2.57 ± 0.31 MPa, a loss of 77%, and the elongation at break changed from 5.32 ± 0.45 to 7.07 ± 1.04%. The 16S rRNA pyrosequencing results showed that Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were the 2 most important bacterial phyla in the Gen III community, accounting for 80.4 and 19.4% of the total classified sequences, respectively. The results of this study demonstrate that compared to a natural soil microbial community, the domesticated strains in the Gen III community, especially members of the phyla Proteobacteria and Firmicutes, are useful in accelerating the degradation of PLA/PHB-blended nonwovens.