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ecoflex® and ecovio®: Biodegradable, Performance-Enabling Plastics

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Synthetic Biodegradable and Biobased Polymers

Part of the book series: Advances in Polymer Science ((POLYMER,volume 293))

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Abstract

In the course of the past two decades, biodegradable polymers have established to serve in form of compostable or soil-biodegradable items as sustainable alternatives to standard plastics in applications where their property of biodegradability adds value. BASF has been a pioneer in this field of action with their commercially available products ecoflex® and ecovio®. Based on continuous research and development at the edge between polymer chemistry and microbiology, not only new developments were realized in the recent past but also a deep understanding about biodegradation under various conditions could be generated. This chapter provides an up-to-date picture about the chemistry and biodegradation, about processing, applications as well as the sustainability contribution of ecoflex® and ecovio®.

This contribution is an update of the article “Ecoflex® and Ecovio®: Biodegradable, Performance-Enabling Plastics” which had been published in the Adv. Polym. Sci. series in 2012 (Siegenthaler KO, Künkel A, Skupin G, Yamamoto M. Adv Polym Sci 245:91–136, 2012).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. BASF SE, RGD/AB – B001, Ludwigshafen, Germany

    K. O. Siegenthaler, M. Agari, J. Auffermann, M. P. Barth, G. Battagliarin, A. Künkel, F. Lauer, J. Lohmann, A. Nabifar & M. Yamamoto

Authors
  1. K. O. Siegenthaler
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  2. M. Agari
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  3. J. Auffermann
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  4. M. P. Barth
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  5. G. Battagliarin
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  6. A. Künkel
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  7. F. Lauer
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  8. J. Lohmann
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  9. A. Nabifar
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  10. M. Yamamoto
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to K. O. Siegenthaler .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. BASF SE, Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany

    Andreas Künkel

  2. BASF SE, Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany

    Glauco Battagliarin

  3. WACKER-Lehrstuhl für Makromolekulare, Technische Universität München, Garching bei München, Germany

    Malte Winnacker

  4. WACKER-Lehrstuhl fur Makromolekular, Technische Universitat Munchen, Garching b. München, Bayern, Germany

    Bernhard Rieger

  5. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Geoffrey Coates

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Siegenthaler, K.O. et al. (2023). ecoflex® and ecovio®: Biodegradable, Performance-Enabling Plastics. In: Künkel, A., Battagliarin, G., Winnacker, M., Rieger, B., Coates, G. (eds) Synthetic Biodegradable and Biobased Polymers. Advances in Polymer Science, vol 293. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/12_2023_151

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