NITRILE GLOVES S/P NBIO (10X100) REFLEXX

Recommended for MEDICAL, DENTAL, CLEANING, HO.RE.CA.

REFLEXX NBio NITRILE GLOVES: how do they work?

The nitrile gloves produced contain additives that accelerate their biodegradation process under anaerobic conditions, when disposed of in biologically active landfills, due to the effect of the microorganisms present.
Anaerobic biodegradation typically occurs in marine sediments and landfills. The rate of biodegradation depends on surrounding conditions and can vary depending on the temperature, humidity, and bacterial load present in each landfill. Additives accelerate the biodegradation process of nitrile rubber gloves.

Biodegradation additives allow nitrile rubber polymers to be more easily broken down into simpler, smaller molecules (oligomers, dimers, and monomers) through hydrolysis and oxidation reactions by microbial enzymes (lipases, proteinases, hydrogenases). During this degradation, microbial exoenzymes break the bonds of the polymer chains, resulting in the formation of small molecules and oligomers capable of passing through the outer membrane of bacteria and being used as a carbon source and/or energy source by bacterial cells.
This results in decomposition into simple inorganic compounds, with the release of biogas (CO2 in aerobic conditions; CH4 in anaerobic conditions), biomass, water (H2O) and inorganic residues (if present in the starting material).

The glove material undergoes fragmentation and mineralization, losing its initial structure, but does not break down into microplastics because it does not undergo physical oxo-degradation processes.

These gloves have been tested according to ASTM-D5511-18, (“Standard Test Method for determining the anaerobic biodegradation of plastic materials under high-solid anaerobic-digestion conditions”), a test that simulates anaerobic biodegradation in an active landfill.

The results of the laboratory analyses carried out on the “REFLEXX NBio” product highlight effective biodegradation, under the conditions envisaged by the method, with results of around 80% w/w after 460 days and a biodegradation plateau reached around 300 days, while classic nitrile gloves do not degrade and show a trend similar to the negative control of the method (polyethylene).

In addition to the tests using the ASTM methods reported above, tests were also carried out to determine the Biochemical Methane Potential (BMP), which is a parameter used to determine the maximum yield of methane developed by microorganisms from organic substrates, thus providing an indication of biodegradability.

EVERY PRODUCT BIODEGRADES AND DISSOLVES IN THE ENVIRONMENT, BUT SOME PRODUCTS CAN TAKE DECADES OR HUNDREDS OF YEARS WHILE OTHER PRODUCTS ARE ABLE TO DO SO FASTER DUE TO THEIR NATURE, CHEMICAL-PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND/OR THANKS TO THE APPLICATION OF NEW BIODEGRADATION TECHNOLOGIES.

HOWEVER, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT VERY LONG TIMES AND THIS IS WHAT MUST BE DONE INTO THE ENVIRONMENT.