Anaerobic biodegradation of plastic materials under accelerated landfill conditions
ASTM D5526 – 18 covers determination of the degree and rate of anaerobic biodegradation of plastic materials in an accelerated-landfill test environment. It consists of following steps: 1) selecting and analysing material for testing; 2) obtaining a pretreated municipal-solid-waste fraction and a concentrated anaerobic inoculum from an anaerobic digester; 3) exposing the material to an anaerobic static batch fermentation at more than 30% solids content; 4) measuring total evolved biogas (CH4 and CO2) as function of time; 5) removing the specimens for cleaning (optional), conditioning, testing, and reporting; 6) assessing the degree of biodegradability; and 7) assessing the degree of biodegradability under less than optimum conditions. The percentage of biodegradability is obtained by determining the precent of conversion of carbon from the test material to carbon in the gaseous phase (CH4 and CO2). This percentage of biodegradability will not include the amount of carbon from the test substance that is converted to cell biomass and that is not, in turn, metabolized to CH4 and CO2.
BPC Blue allows for continuous and on-line monitoring of released biogas (CH4 and CO2) under the test condition. The instrument offers standardised measurement procedures, data interpretations and reports. It is the perfect analytical tool for anaerobic biodegradability assay with highly precise and accurate data.
Read more about ASTM D5526 at astm.org.
