Abstract
Nanocrystalline cellulose (NC) and a lignin-containing fraction (LF) were obtained from egagropili, the so called sea balls produced from rhizome and stem fragments of Posidonia oceanica that accumulate in large amounts along the coastal beaches in the form of tightly packed and dry materials of various dimensions. Both egagropili fractions have been shown to be able to improve the physicochemical properties of biodegradable films prepared from protein concentrates derived from hemp oilseed cakes. These materials, manufactured with a biodegradable industrial by-product and grafted with equally biodegradable waste-derived additives, exhibited an acceptable resistance with a still high flexibility, as well as they showed an effective barrier activity against water vapor and gases (O2 and CO2). Furthermore, both NC and LF decreased film moisture content, swelling ability and solubility, thus indicating that both additives were able to improve water resistance of the hydrocolloid films. The exploitation of egagropili, actually considered only an undesirable waste to be disposed, as a renewable source of reinforcing agents to blend with different kinds of polymers is suggested.
Highlights
Plastics pollution has become a global threat, mostly to marine ecosystems [1]
Different fractions of egagropili powder were obtained by preliminary washing, de-waxing, heating and grinding of the starting material and, by delignification with sodium chlorite and separation of cellulose from hemicellulose and pectin by potassium hydroxide treatment
Both kinds of biocomposite films exhibited higher tensile strength (TS) and Young’s modulus (YM) values compared to the respective control films, whereas their elongation at break (EB) significantly decreased as a function of Nanocrystalline cellulose (NC) or lignin-containing fraction (LF) amounts occurring in the Film forming solutions (FFSs). These results indicate that both NC and LF contributed to reinforce Hemp proteins (HPs)-based films making them more resistant but still quite flexible to be potentially applied to a variety of packaging systems
Summary
Replacing oil-derived plastics with biodegradable materials is required by a more sustainable life pursuit and, in this respect, polymer matrices derived from bio-renewable polysaccharides and proteins are of highlighted interest. Numerous researches have been carried out in the last twenty years on using polysaccharide fibers derived from agriculture wastes or industrial by-products to develop biodegradable/edible films with improved performance [2]. Plant cell walls consist essentially of rigid cellulosic microfibrils embedded in a soft matrix of hemicellulose and lignin, and cellulose is the major component in lignocellulosic biomass which is localized in the cell wall at around 35–50% [3]. Lignin represents a fairly stable polymer network that acts as a glue to hold the other matrix components (cellulose/hemicellulose) together [4]. Most of the starting raw materials used are land vegetable sources, aquatic biomass, such as marine plants, may represent
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