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| A review on polyethylene mulch film degradation |
| Received:March 27, 2018 Revised:June 27, 2018 |
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| KeyWord:polyethylene;abiotic degradation;biodegradation;degradation mechanism;microorganism |
| Author Name | Affiliation | E-mail | | LI Zhen | Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, CAAS, Beijing 100081, China
Key Laboratory for Prevention and Control of Residual Pollution in Agricultural Film, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China | | | HE Wen-qing | Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, CAAS, Beijing 100081, China
Key Laboratory for Prevention and Control of Residual Pollution in Agricultural Film, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China | | | LIU En-ke | Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, CAAS, Beijing 100081, China
Key Laboratory for Prevention and Control of Residual Pollution in Agricultural Film, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China | | | ZHOU Jing-lun | Key Laboratory of Special Functional Aggregated Materials, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China | | | LIU Qin | Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, CAAS, Beijing 100081, China
Key Laboratory for Prevention and Control of Residual Pollution in Agricultural Film, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China | | | YAN Chang-rong | Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, CAAS, Beijing 100081, China
Key Laboratory for Prevention and Control of Residual Pollution in Agricultural Film, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China | yanchangrong@caas.cn |
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| Abstract: |
| To provide insight on the degradation process of polyethylene mulch films, the progress of the most recent studies were widely reviewed, and a systematic analysis was conducted on the degradation pathway, product, mechanism, and influencing factors of polyethylene mulch films based on its molecular structure and physicochemical properties. It was noted that the high crystallinity, molecular weight, hydrophobicity, and strong intermolecular bond made polyethylene hard to degrade naturally; molecular oxidation was the initial and rate-limiting step in the chain scission and degradation pathway. Many studies showed that high ultraviolet radiation, heat, and mechanical forces could accelerate the oxidative degradation of polyethylene molecular bond, causing depolymerization of non-crystalline and small crystalline parts to hydrophilic monomers or oligomers, which would break down further to CO2, H2O, CH4, biomass, or other microbiotic metabolites through microorganism bioassimilation. Thorough examination of the pathways and mechanisms that are involved in polyethylene degradation could provide support for the scientific evaluation of the potential environmental hazards that are caused by mulch film residuals and potentially limit mulch film residue pollution by modifying the formulation of mulch film. |
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