What Is 100 DEGREE?
100 degree additive, based on technology developed by DRDO, Ministry of Defence was designed to prepare a non toxic additive with no harmful heavy metal, which can render conventional polyethylene degrade withing a realistic time frame keeping in mind the reduction of previous disadvantages of similar technologies. Even at a small addition of 1%, conventional plastic will embrittle when exposed to environment.
- Biodegradation Process
In the first phase, 100 degree additive modifies the polymer matrix of plastic, which on exposure to sunlight or heat leads to chain scissions and hence a reduction of molecular weight besides creating hydrophilic surface. This ultimately disintegrates the plastic into smaller fragments.
The second phase of degradation utilizes the low molecular weight oxygenated compounds, which can be consumed by microorganisms and get converted to carbon dioxide and water by respiration. The residue of the biodegradation process will include environmentally friendly biomass.
Degradation is affected by Heat, Light, Stress and Air
Degree of degradation can be determined by MFI, viscosity, molecular weight, carbonyl index, density, crystallinity etc. 100 degree contains certain pro-oxidants which after a predetermined time period will break carbon-carbon bond in the moleculare chains. The chained scission continues with disintegration and oxygen is permitted to interact with carbon till molecular weight reduced to 5000 or less. Further the distengrated particles are available for biodigestion.
This technology as found to degrade LDPE film with 70µ thickeness as soon as 30-45 days in an open atmosphere in Delhi conditions. Virgin material without any addition of oxo-biodegradable additives takes much longer that this.
100 degree accelerates the degradation process as fast as 30-45 days and can be customized from few weeks to few years, depending upon environmental conditions and let down ratio.
- Heavy Metal
100 degree additives contains no known heavy metals - Food Contact Applications
100 degree additives have been tested in different food simulant systems. The migration results were within permissible limits and thus require no toxicological evaluation. Also active components in the additive are found to be below detection limits thus indicating food contact safety. Test results have been documented in various publications. Also available on request.
Courtesy – Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysore - Residues
100 degree additives are tested to be non-toxic, leaving no harmful residue after biodegradation. - Shelf Life
The shelf life of 100 degree additive is around one year when stored in a normal cool atmosphere where is no influence of direct sunlight. Shelf life of products made from 100 degree additive can be predetermined with the selection of % additive in the product.
After the degradation process the harmless residues are CO2, H2O and Biomass.
