Abstract
Abstract This work is directed towards developing biodegradable films from biopolymer that is sustainable and environmentally friendly particularly tapioca starch (TPS) films. However, the usage of TPS films for food packaging application has been limited due to the poor mechanical, barrier and thermal properties. Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) at different concentrations (0 to 10 wt.%) was incorporated as the filler into the films to form TPS/MCC composite films via solvent casting method in order to improve the limited properties of the films. The TPS/MCC films were characterized in terms of physical, mechanical, barrier, and thermal properties. It was found that 3 wt.% MCC was the ideal concentration of filler that resulted to the highest performance of the films in terms of mechanical and barrier properties. Thermal properties of the films were also improved with the addition of MCC into the films. In conclusion, TPS/MCC films produced in this study exhibit improved properties and have the potential to be used for food packaging application.
Highlights
Nowadays, environmental pollution resulted from the usage of non-degradable materials such as petroleum-based materials for packaging applications is becoming crucial (Risyon et al, 2016)
Biopolymer falls into two categories which are naturals and synthetic biopolymer
Materials used in this work include tapioca starch (Thye Huat Chan Sdn Bhd, Thailand), glycerol plasticizer (R&M Chemicals, UK), microcrystalline cellulose (Sigma-Aldrich Co., Ireland) with average particle size of 20 μm, calcium chloride (R&M Chemicals, UK) and magnesium nitrate 6-hydrat (HmbG Chemicals, German)
Summary
Environmental pollution resulted from the usage of non-degradable materials such as petroleum-based materials for packaging applications is becoming crucial (Risyon et al, 2016). Food packaging represents the single largest element whereby demand for food packaging has been growing due to the increase in the number of world population. This problem can be solved by replacing the non-degradable materials with biodegradable materials such as biopolymer (Othman, 2014; Othman et al, 2017a). The natural biopolymers are more environmental friendly than synthetic biopolymers and among them, starch tapioca starch (TPS) is a favourable biopolymer due to its low cost, widely accessible, exhibiting thermoplastic and biodegradability properties (Almasi et al, 2010). TPS is edible and suitable for food packaging application as it can be consumed and helps to minimize waste
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