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

In this study, the accelerated biodegradation of PLA/PHB (polylactic acid/polyhydroxybutyrate)-blended nonwovens was investigated in the presence of a microbial community. The PLA/PHB-blended nonwovens were buried in natural soil for 56 days, with soil samples collected for subsequent bacterial community domestication. The tensile strength and elongation at break of the PLA/PHB-blended nonwovens as well as the CO₂ generated by the Gen III and natural soil communities were determined to assess the degradation rates of the polymer samples. After incubation for 15 days with the Gen III soil bacterial suspension, the surfaces and fibrous structure of nonwovens and the fibers within the nonwovens exhibited distinct changes. In addition, the amount of EvCO₂ 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.