Biodegradation trend of poly(ε-caprolactone) and nanocomposites

PCL nanocomposites based on two organically modified montmorillonites at 5% clay loading were biodegraded in a mature compost. All samples showed an effective degradation in compost but nanoclays were found to partially delay the process. Biodegradation carried out by microorganisms isolated from the compost showed that the bacterium Bacilluslicheniformis was able to degrade the studied systems without considerable differences in the polymer degradation trend due to the presence of nanoclays.