Preparation And Research On Degradation Of Plant-fiber Tableware Made Of Ramie Sticks

As the ‘white pollution’ is getting serious, it is an exorable trend to look for asubstitute for disposable foamed plastic tableware in the research of this area. Ramiestick was used as the main material to make plant-fiber tableware in this research.This research studied the main factors which affected the forming quality andexplored the sequence of these factors, the best molding conditions, the impacts ofdifferent additives on the performance of plan-fiber tableware made of ramie sticksand the degradability law of it. The research achievement is of great significance toenhance the comprehensive utilization of ramie resource and to relieve the ‘whitepollution’ and the hazy weather in the contemporary world.At first we studied the main factors which affect the forming quality and explorethe sequence of these factors and the best molding conditions. Orthogonal experimentwas used to study the effect of different factors on the molding quality, such asmoisture content, molding pressure, the temperature of upper die, time, cementingagent content and so on. It is concluded that time has the strongest effect on moldingquality, then the molding pressure, cementing agent content, temperature of upper dieand the water content. The results showed that the best molding quality was formedunder the process conditions of upper mold temperature155℃, molding time80s,molding pressure20MPa, the water content5%, and the cementing agent content25%.Secondly, in order to provide basis to further research of the plan-fiber tablewaremade of ramie sticks, the impacts of different additives on the plan-fiber tablewaremade of ramie sticks were studied under the best process conditions of molding. Theresults showed that liquid paraffin was a better waterproof compared to stearic acid,and the best volume of addition is around1%. The effects of sodium alga acid andsodium carboxymethyl cellulose on the usability of the plan-fiber tableware made of ramie sticks were not obvious. To some extant, calcium carbonate, talcum powder andkaolin could improve the usability of the ramie stick plan-fiber tableware. And thebest ratio of volume addition was4:3:2while adding the three kinds of fillers at thesame time.Thirdly, biodegradation rate was used to evaluate the degradation ability ofpolypropylene, filter paper, ramie sticks fiber tableware, pulp molding tableware andcorn plastic tableware in activated sludge, contributing to provide basis of large-scaleproduction of the ramie sticks fiber tableware. The results showed that: during thetesting period (28days), the filter paper had the highest degradation, pulp moldingtableware came the second, the plant fiber was more stable than paper, itsbiodegradation rate was60.59%; polypropylene and corn plastic tableware degradedlittle in the activated sludge system. Increasing the exposure surface of plant-fibertableware made of ramie sticks and the ratio of activated sludge to ramie sticks fibertableware could improve the degradation degree of plant-fiber tableware made oframie sticks. When the total content of ramie sticks and corn was constant, it wasconcluded that the more the content of plant fiber, the lower the biodegradation rateduring the former two weeks during the degradation period.