Polybutyrate (short for polybutyrate adipate terephthalate, or PBAT) is a
biodegradable random
copolymer, specifically a
copolyester of
adipic acid,
1,4-butanediol and
dimethyl terephthalate. PBAT is produced by many different manufacturers and may be known by the brand names
Ecoflex,
Eastar Bio, and
Origo-Bi. It is generally marketed as a fully biodegradable alternative to
low density polyethylene, having many similar properties including flexibility and resilience, allowing it to be used for many similar uses such as plastic bags and wraps. The structure of the PBAT polymer is shown to the right. It is depicted as a block co-polymer here due to the common synthetic method of first synthesizing two copolymer blocks and then combining them. However, it is important to note that the actual structure of the polymer is a random co-polymer of the blocks shown.