Triggering the Biodegradability and Green-Reuse of Cigarette Filters by a Facile and Home-Operating Treatment

As a commercial product derived from a natural plant, cellulose acetate (CA) with excellent properties is considered as a good candidate to replace the petrochemical materials and has been widely used as cigarette filters, separation membranes, and spectacle frames. However, in reality, CA is nonbiodegradable due to its hydrophobicity and poor adhesion to microbes. Thus, it is meaningful and imperative to promote and encourage the research of the environmental degradability of CA-based products. Herein, we demonstrated a simple, user-friendly, and mild treatment method to trigger the biodegradability and green-reuse of CA materials successfully. Based on the reversibility between the esterification and saponification, we realized the biodegradation of commercial CA via simply immersing CA materials into common salt aqueous solutions, including NaHCO3, Na2CO3, K2CO3, and K3PO4, which are food additives or agriculture fertilizers. The treated CA materials exhibited an obvious hydrophilicity and good adhesion to microbes because of a partial or complete deacetylation. Therefore, the treated CA films and cigarette filters can be rapidly degraded in the composting test and soil burial test. In addition, the treated cigarette filters can significantly improve the mechanical properties of the recycled kraft paper. Such a facile home-operating method to trigger the biodegradability and green-reuse of CA materials has a huge potential in the environmental protection and the ecofriendly utilization of the natural biomass resources.

Automated summary

Cellulose acetate (CA) is a commercially used material with excellent properties, but it is nonbiodegradable due to its hydrophobicity and poor adhesion to microbes. This study demonstrates a simple and mild treatment method to trigger the biodegradability and green-reuse of CA materials, by immersing them into common salt aqueous solutions. The treated CA materials showed improved hydrophilicity and adhesion to microbes, leading to rapid degradation in composting and soil burial tests. The method has great potential in environmental protection and ecofriendly utilization of biomass resources.