ABSTRACT

Natural polymers are available in large quantities from renewable sources, whereas synthetic polymers are produced from nonrenewable petroleum resources. Renewable sources are available indefinitely and include agricultural crops, microbes, and animals. Biopolymers possess similar physical and chemical properties to petroleum-derived thermoplastics, but they are totally biodegradable to CO2 and H2O (Vroman and Tighzert, 2009). Table 11.1 shows some of the properties of biopolymers and petroleumderived polymers (Chen, 2014).