Abstract
Plant-based proteins are considered to be one of the most promising biodegradable polymers for green packaging materials. Despite this, the practical application of the proteins in the packaging industry on a large scale has yet to be achieved. In the following review, most of the data about plant protein-based packaging materials are presented in two parts. Firstly, the crude protein content of oilseed cakes and meals, cereals, legumes, vegetable waste, fruit waste, and cover crops are indexed, along with the top global producers. In the second part, we present the different production techniques (casting, extrusion, and molding), as well as compositional parameters for the production of bioplastics from the best protein sources including sesame, mung, lentil, pea, soy, peanut, rapeseed, wheat, corn, amaranth, sunflower, rice, sorghum, and cottonseed. The inclusion of these protein sources in packaging applications is also evaluated based on their various properties such as barrier, thermal, and mechanical properties, solubility, surface hydrophobicity, water uptake capacity, and advantages. Having this information could assist the readers in exercising judgement regarding the right source when approving the applications of these proteins as biodegradable packaging material.
Highlights
There is a trend to replace conventional plastics with biodegradable plastics as a result of changing global conditions, reduced petroleum supplies, and an ever-growing demand for plastics [1]
A comprehensive review on various properties like barrier (oxygen permeability (OP), water vapor permeability (WVP)), thermal, mechanical, solubility, and emulsifying properties and surface hydrophobicity is addressed in the Supplementary Materials, Table S2 corresponding to Table S1
The vast majority of current industrial bioplastic applications rely on cellulose and starch, and neglect protein-rich biowastes
Summary
There is a trend to replace conventional plastics with biodegradable plastics as a result of changing global conditions, reduced petroleum supplies, and an ever-growing demand for plastics [1]. It has been discovered that bioplastics can be manufactured from starch [3], cellulose [4], proteins [5], and other biomass resources [6]. There are distinct properties of proteins that make them permissible, unique, and distinguishable from other biodegradable sources. Proteins (Figure 1) are the naturally occurring macromolecules constructed from long chains of amino acids, composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur [7]. All of the proteins are comprised of different arrangements of the same 20 kinds of amino acids [8]. Their structure varies greatly, and the shape is critical to its function.
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