The biodegradation of water absorbent resin is an extremely complex process. There are many evaluation methods, and there is no completely unified standard at present. In order to provide reference for related research, this paper introduces several methods commonly used to evaluate the degradation performance of absorbent polymer.

1.Evaluation of degradation performance of water absorbent resin by soil burial test

The soil burial test method is to embed water absorbent resin samples into soil, sludge, compost, etc., and use microorganisms in nature for biodegradation. Then, observe and compare the changes of mechanical properties, surface morphology, quality and internal structure before and after burial. This method can truly reflect its decomposition in nature and can be analyzed with specific soil foundation, but the test time is relatively long and the repeatability of the test is weak. Moreover, due to the complex mechanism of biodegradation, it is also difficult to determine the decomposition products.

2.Microbial culture method to evaluate the degradation performance of water absorbent resin

Cultivate specific microorganisms (fungi, bacteria, etc.) in the laboratory, smear the sample on the surface of the specimen, and seal the culture room. After a period of culture, take out and observe the growth state of microorganisms on the bacterial surface and the morphological changes and weight loss on the sample surface, so as to evaluate the degradation performance of water absorbent resin.

3.Evaluation of degradation performance of water absorbent resin by enzyme analysis

The enzyme is highly selective and sensitive to aliphatic polyester, polyurethane, polyamide and other materials with a structure similar to natural macromolecules. Under certain experimental conditions, specific enzymes are selected for enzymatic decomposition experiment, which is short in time and high in quantity, which is conducive to the study of the decomposition products and decomposition mechanism of water absorbent resin.

Water absorbent resin is a kind of functional polymer material, which is widely used because of its characteristics. However, most absorbent polymers sold on the market use acrylate as the main polymerization monomer, and these resins have poor degradation performance, which is easy to cause environmental pollution. Therefore, in recent years, more and more researchers have invested in the research of degradable resins. Understanding the evaluation method of its degradation performance is conducive to the better research and development of this resin.