Modification of properties of poly(L-lactide)

Predicted exhaustion of the petroleum resources and global pollution of the environment force the society to establish new environmental regulations and introduce new materials from renewable resources that will assure sustainable development. One of those eco-friendly materials is poly(L-lactide) (PLLA). PLLA is a biodegradable polymer synthesized from lactic acid produced by fermentation of sugar or starch feedstocks like potato, corn, wheat etc. Although those are renewable resources they have to be used very carefully, i.e. plastic or fuel production must not cause lower food production or uncontrollable forest cutting down. The objective of this paper is to present in a very brief view the investigations of PLLA made by scientific group on Department of Organic Technology, Faculty of Chemistry and Technology in Split. Properties of biodegradable PLLA were modified using biodegradable olive stone flour (OSF) and biodegradable citrate plasticizers, tributyl citrate (TBC) and acetyltributyl citrate (TBAC). The aim was to create fully biodegradable composite material. Influence of these additives on some properties of PLLA was investigated.