An automated test for measuring polymer biodegradation

The biodegradability of polymer materials as evaluated by the modified Stur m test is labor-intensive, cumbersome and costly and also tends to cumulate errors. An automated system for the measurement of carbon dioxide would ov ercome many of these disadvantages. We describe here a method in which CO w as determined by IR spectroscopy. We compared the results with those from t rapping CO2 in a solution of barium hydroxide (Ba(OH)(2)) followed by manua l titration. The automated system was more reproducible, less costly and mo re compact. The automated system could also be employed to measure the biod egradability of other substances such as oils and detergents. (C) 2000 Else vier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.