Preparation of Polymer Microparticles Through Non-aqueous Suspension Polycondensations: Part III—Degradation of PBS Microparticles in Different Aqueous Environments

The present work investigated the degradation of poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) in different aqueous media, as PBS microparticles are intended for use in personal care and cosmetic applications. Degradation tests were performed for the first time at different conditions of salinity, pH and temperature for two types of PBS: microparticles produced through suspension polycondensations and commercial pellets produced through bulk polycondensations. As shown experimentally, rates of PBS degradation were sensitive to modification of degradation conditions, being faster at higher temperatures, at acidic conditions and at alkaline conditions. However, PBS degradation was not very sensitive to the presence of salts, although degradation rates were shown to be higher in real sea water samples. Additionally, rates of PBS degradation were shown to depend significantly on PBS properties and morphology. Based on the obtained experimental data, a model was proposed to evaluate the effects of degradation temperature and particle morphology on the rates of PBS degradation in sea water, providing suitable fits for the available data. Graphical Abstract