Polyvinyl chloride degradation by hybrid (chemical and biological) modification

Chemical and microbial modifications are not common with polyvinyl chloride (PVC). This paper presents a novel green hybrid technique for the PVC degradation using biodegradation followed by chemical modification, using glycerol and urea (C-PVC). Mucor rouxii specie is found to be susceptible towards C-PVC bio-degradation. Chemical change in PVC was monitored by observing change in the CC, CH and CCl bond environment using IR spectroscopy followed by dechlorination study. Role of ZnO in chemical modification was observed by elemental analysis. Thermogravimetric with IR study justified microbial participation in the degradation and found that M. rouxii modified C-PVC (M-PVC) considerably reduces degradation time and temperature. Degradation temperature for C-PVC and M-PVC was noted as 550 °C and 450 °C, as compared with PVC 600 °C. Degradation pattern was also investigated by surface morphological using AFM analysis.