Brief Introduction of PBAT

Since 2020, various localities have successively introduced implementation plans to strengthen plastic pollution control, and plastic restrictions have gone further. According to the data released by the European Bioplastics Association in September 2019, as of September 2019, the global bioplastics production capacity was 1.174 million tons. The production capacity of various types of biodegradable plastics is as follows:

From the figure, we can see that PBAT production capacity is the third largest biodegradable plastic after starch-based plastics and PLA. I have already introduced PLA to you before, and those who haven’t seen it can check it out.

PBAT, the full name is polybutylene adipate terephthalate, as shown in the figure below for its structural formula. According to the source of biodegradable plastics, it can be divided into bio-based biodegradable materials and petrochemical-based biodegradable materials. PBAT belongs to petrochemical-based biodegradable plastics and is currently one of the most active biodegradable materials in the research of biodegradable plastics and one of the best degradable materials in the market.

PBAT is a kind of polyester, polyester = diacid + glycol, polyester also contains PBS, PBSA, PBT, as shown in the figure below.

PBAT is based on 1,4-butanediol (BDO), adipic acid (AA), terephthalic acid (PTA) or glycol terephthalate (DMT) as raw materials, through direct esterification or transesterification And made.

1. PBAT is a semi-crystalline polymer;
2. Usually the crystallization temperature is around 110℃;
3. Melting point is around 130℃;
4. The density is between 1.18g/ml~1.3g/ml;
5. The crystallinity of PBAT is about 30%;
6. Shore hardness is above 85.

The process is like LDPE and it can be made into blown film. PBAT is printable and weldable and can be directly used for food packaging.

We’ve known PLA is another type of bio-degrabale material but it is hard and fragile. The low impact-resistance and low avulsion-resistance limit its application while PBAT is quite flexible and extandable. So it’s a good idea to combine these two for a better use.

PBAT polymers are not only biodegradable but also compostable, so the use of PBAT can fight against white pollution. The biodegradable garbage bags produced by PBAT are the membrane materials used in the bio-composting waste center to recycle biological waste, and are mainly used in: fully degradable packaging film; Fully degradable packaging bags, including shopping bags, rolled garbage bags, pet feces bags, electronic product packaging bags, food packaging bags, plastic film, etc.