Food Engineering
Sanaz Golmohammadzadeh; Farid Amidi-Fazli
Abstract
[1]Introduction: The biodegradability of synthetic plastics derived from petroleum is a very slow process and complete decomposition of them lasts several years. This increases environmental pollution. Extensive efforts have been made to develop and improve biopolymers-based packaging. Biopolymers derived ...
Read More
[1]Introduction: The biodegradability of synthetic plastics derived from petroleum is a very slow process and complete decomposition of them lasts several years. This increases environmental pollution. Extensive efforts have been made to develop and improve biopolymers-based packaging. Biopolymers derived from renewable agricultural resources are an appropriate alternative to synthetic plastics. The use of nanotechnology in the field of polymer science has led to the production of nanocomposite polymers. The valuable nanocomposites would be produced if natural nanoparticles are used in composites preparation. Because of the importance of nanocomposites in the production of biodegradable films and due to desired properties of gelatin and carboxymethyl cellulose in film production, this study aimed to investigate the effect of glycerol and nanocellulose on the properties of gelatin-carboxymethyl cellulose nanocomposites. Materials and Methods: To prepare 12 different treatments based on statistical design, 1 g of gelatin and 1 g of carboxymethylcellulose were dissolved in distilled water to form a uniform solution. Then, glycerol as a plasticizer was added to the prepared solutions at different levels (20 to 60% w/w). The determined amount of nanocellulose (0- 30% w/w), based on the biopolymers weight, was added to the cooled blend at 70°C. Nanocellulose was extracted from cotton through the chemical method, cotton was gone under chemical hydrolysis by the sulfuric acid solution (65% w/v). The properties of gelatin-carboxymethylcellulose nanocomposites were studied. The produced nanocellulos evaluated by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques. The thickness of the films was measured using a caliper with a precision of 0.01. At five different parts of each film. Water vapor flux and water vapor permeability through the film samples were determined. The dry matter of 20× 20 mm film samples before and after immersion in 50 ml of distilled water for 24h at 25 °C was determined to calculate the solubility in water of the films. To measure the moisture absorption of the nanocomposite samples, 20× 20 mm film pieces were kept in a container containing potassium sulfate saturated solution (RH= 97%) at 25°C for 4 days. Films were weighted initially and at the end of the experiment. Sessile drop method, a common technique for determining the wetting properties of solid surfaces, was then used to determine the contact angle. Ultimate tensile strength and elongation at break were measured. The belt-shaped sample (8× 1 cm) of the film was stretched by the instrument at a velocity of 1 mm/s. The color and transparency of the samples were evaluated in the black box by image processing technique. Total color difference (ΔE), yellow index (YI), and white index (WI) of the samples were calculated. Treatments were prepared according to central composite design (CCD) and were statically analyzed by response surface method (RSM). Results and Discussion: The prepared films showed low water vapor permeability (3.62× 10-11 to 2.23× 10-12 gm/m2Pas). The lowest amount of water vapor permeability was obtained when the low level of nanocrystalline cellulose (4.4%) was used. The high amounts of glycerol and nanocellulose increased the solubility of the films and even in some treatments the samples were completely dissolved in water. The hydrophilic nature of the gelatin and carboxymethyl cellulose used in the preparation of composites may be the reason for the high solubility of the produced films. At the same time, the samples showed high moisture absorption. Moisture absorption decreased as a result of the glycerol content increased, also the effects of the presence of nanocrystalline cellulose as a filler on the moisture absorption decrease cannot be neglected. A moderate contact angle of about 60º was observed, the interactions between the polar and the hydroxyl groups of the biomaterials used in the production of composites caused different behaviors observed in the various treatments. The interaction of nanocellulose and glycerol had a significant effect on the contact angle. The films had high ultimate tensile strength (84.37 MPa) while the elongation at break was 4.14% for the same treatment, which indicates low flexibility of the produced films. The color of the samples was evaluated as suitable. The use of 60% glycerol and 4.4% nanocellulose results in the production of films with desirable properties. The use of gelatin and carboxymethylcellulose produced composites that had improved properties in the terms of water vapor permeability and surface wetting compared to pure films.Composites made of gelatin and carboxymethylcellulose showed high ultimate tensile strength, although the elongation at break of them was not desirable. In terms of barrier properties against the water vapor, prepared composites demonstrated improved properties when compared to other bio-based made films. On the other hand, in terms of hydrophilicity, they are classified as moisture-sensitive films, which limits their use for foods with high moisture content. The use of carboxymethyl cellulose can improve the water vapor permeability of pure gelatin films. Also, the use of gelatin increases the contact angle of water of pure carboxymethyl cellulose films. Gelatin-carboxymethyl cellulose nanocomposite contains 60% glycerol and 4.4% nanocellulose presents improved and desirable properties.
Omid Doosti Irani; Abbas Rohani; Mahmood Reza Golzarian; Mansoureh Shamili; Peyman Azarkish
Abstract
Introduction: The diversity and abundance in quality properties of agricultural products are leading factors to develop non-destructive methods. Machine vision and artificial intelligence are powerful techniques in detection of many physical, mechanical and chemical properties of agricultural products. ...
Read More
Introduction: The diversity and abundance in quality properties of agricultural products are leading factors to develop non-destructive methods. Machine vision and artificial intelligence are powerful techniques in detection of many physical, mechanical and chemical properties of agricultural products. Prior to exporting, fruits are sorted in terms of their shapes, volumes or weights. Non-destructively taste-based sorting can be of importance in terms of markability and application. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) has been introduced as a new method to predict quality parameters such as firmness, total sugar content (TSC) and pH of agricultural products and to grade the products accordingly. Material and Methods: In this research, the quality properties of Mango (Kelke- Sorkh var) were predicted using the combination of image processing and artificial intellect techniques. The mango samples were harvested from the orchard in Minab, Hormozgan province in Iran. The samples were transferred to computer vision lab, room temperature of 24°C and 22% RH. The samples were divided into three groups for temperature treatment. They were kept at three temperature levels of 5°C, 15°C and 24°C (control group) for 48 hours. The sample were then placed in room temperature and were imaged every second day for 14 day period. After imaging, each sample was undergon destructive tests for determining their quality attributes including sugar content, firmness and pH. The images were taken by a digital camera in visible spectrum (Nickon Coolpix p510, Nikon Inc, Japan). The taken images were, then, transferred to Matlab software environment (Mathworks Inc, US) for analysis and processing. The color factors from regions of intrest were extracted from the images in L*a*b* color space. The segmentation of images was performed by thresholding (threshhold value of 0.3) the image of difference between red and blue channels of taken RGB images. The conversion of RGB color space to L*a*b* was done by converting RGB image to XYZ basic color space first and before converting X, Y, and Z basic color components to L*, a*, b* color factors. The L* represent the lightness in the image from black (0) to white (100). In this project, a multilayer perceptron neural network with a hidden layer was used. The optimum number of neurons in the hidden layer was found to be 25. The maximum iterations was set as 1000 and the learning rate was set as 0.001. Results and discussions: The input variables to the network were temperature treatment at three levels (control, 5°C and 15°C), the color factors (L*, a* and b*) and the variations of three color factors across the regions of interest (standard deviations of L*, a* and b*). The output variables were sugar content, pH and texture firmness. The results showed that the accuracy of the ANN model on the prediction of pH, sugar content and firmness were 45%, 85 and 88%, respectively. Although the accuracy of ANN model for predicting pH from color factors was rather low, this model was able to predict firmness and sugar content with highly accurately. The histogram of errors among three ANN models also showed the ANN model for predicting firmness and sugar content performed better than that for predicting pH. The MAPE prediction error were 9.53, 22.74 and 6.14, respectively, for predicting firmness, pH and sugar content. Comparing the results from the network in training and testing stages showed that ANN can be considered as a reliable method for estimating quality factors of firmness and sugar content with high accuracy and estimating pH with rather non-applicable accuracy.
Seyed Amir Oleyaei; Babak Ghanbarzadeh; Ali Akbar Moayedi; Parisa Poursani; Fateme Mousavi Baygi; Mohammad Reza Bakhsh Amin
Abstract
Introduction: Biopolymers are a class of polymer, which are disintegrated by an enzymatic or bio-path and the products disseminated to the surroundings do not induce negative effects. Nowadays, non-degradable polymers are quid pro quo with biodegradable ones particularly in agricultural applications, ...
Read More
Introduction: Biopolymers are a class of polymer, which are disintegrated by an enzymatic or bio-path and the products disseminated to the surroundings do not induce negative effects. Nowadays, non-degradable polymers are quid pro quo with biodegradable ones particularly in agricultural applications, environmental and food industry use. Starch is an example of natural biopolymers, biocompatible, which is completely biodegradable in environment. It has been considered as one of the best candidates for oil based polymer substitution due to its low cost, availability and processbility. The main disadvantages of starch based polymers are their high hydrophilic nature therefore; they have poor mechanical properties and are permeable to water vapor. However, these aspects could be considerably reclaimed by shuffling it with nanodimension materials such as itanium dioxide (TiO2) and Montmorillonite (MMT). The main reason for this improvement in comparison with conventional composites is the large surface area of these nanomaterials which results in high interactions between the nanofillers and starch. The functional behaviors of nanocomposite films have been depended to the compatibility and degree of nanoparticles dispersion in the biopolymer matrix. TiO2 is a 3D nanosphere has been perused widely because it is inexpensive, chemical inert and, has a high refractive index with visible and UV shielding potential. MMT as a 1D, platelet is the most commonly used layered silicates. The investigation of biodegradable films containing two different nanofillers simultaneously has been rarely done. TiO2 and MMT as two different inorganic nanofillers have different physical and chemical structures, so simultaneously use of TiO2 and MMT clearly had a new effect on the nanoparticle distribution and functional properties of starch films. The aim of this study was investigate the synergistic or antagonistic effect of combination of TiO2 nanoparticles and MMT platelets on the functional properties such as surface hydrophobicity, water vapor permeability (WVP), moisture uptake (MU), Water Solubility (WS) and mechanical properties of plasticized starch-MMT-TiO2 nanocomposites.
Materials and methods: 100 ml of potato starch solution with a concentration of 4% (w/v) was prepared by dispersion of starch in distilled water. It was gelatinized at 80 ºC for 15 min. Different amount of TiO2 (0.5, 1 and 2% w/w starch) and MMT (3 and 5% w/w starch) were dissolved in distilled water and added to the gelatinized starch after treatment with ultrasound for 30 min. Glycerol with concentration of 50% (w/w starch) was added to the starch-nanofillers filmogenic solution. Bionanocomposite plasticized starch (PS) films were produced by casting and were dried in an oven at 45 °C for 15 hours. The X-Ray diffraction (XRD) measurements were performed for MMT and TiO2 powder and starch-MMT and –TiO2 nanocomposite films. The methodology of WVP measurements was based on the ASTM E96-05 (ASTM, 2005). Mechanical properties of the films were determined according to ASTM standard method D882-10 (ASTM, 2010). With some modifications, the methods described by Tunc et al., (2007) and Rhim et al., (2006) were used to determine MU and WS, respectively. Water contact angle (WCA) measurements were performed by the sessile drop procedure. The statistical analyses on a completely randomized design and were carried out using analysis of variance (ANOVA). Duncan’s multiple range test (p < 0.05) was used to detect differences among the mean values of the functional properties.
Results and discussion: XRD demonstrated the change of MMT layers dispersion pattern from exfoliation in binary PS-5%MMT films to exfoliation-intercalation in ternary PS-5MMT-TiO2 films. These results showed that TiO2 agglomerates are formed in the starch matrix with MMT level more than 3% wt. This could be due to the interaction between starch and MMT tends to be more favorable than TiO2. Good dispersion of TiO2, high miscibility of with clay, and continuous phase can be obtained when the content of MMT discs is low. Due to the strong interfacial interaction between the starch and MMT, the tensile strength (TS) increased considerably from4.86 to 5.24 MPa, while the elongation at break (EB) decreased significantly from 78.23 to 71.93%, As the MMT concentration varied from 3 to 5%. The TS of nanocomposite films were further improved after the incorporation of TiO2. Suitable dispersal of TiO2, and creation of new interactions in the PS-MMT network, causes to increase the tensile strength of nanocomposites. The TS and EB values of PS-3MMT-1TiO2 nanocomposite film was higher than that of the other films. This is indicative of a synergistic effect between TiO2 and MMT which increases the tensile strength and does not decrease the EB. In the PS-5% MMT films, both mechanical characteristics were reduced. WVP shows more evidences of synergistic effect of combination of 1D MMT and 3D TiO2 on starch films. WVP reduction by MMT has been attributed to tortuous pathway which created by clay layers in the starch matrix. MMT platelets are water vapor impermeable, thus exfoliation of MMT reduce the voids in starch matrix. The PS-3MMT-2TiO2 nanocomposite showed the lowest WVP as compared to other PS films. WVP was reduced significantly from 5.84 × 10-7 g/m.h.Pa in the PS-3%MMT binary film to 3.04 × 10-7 g/m.h.Pa in the PS-3%MMT-2%TiO2 ternary film. TiO2 have low water solubility and hydrophobicity compared with starch and MMT. Thus, significant decrement of WVP in the prophase of TiO2 connoted that TiO2 was obstructing the nano- and micro-pathways in the PS films network. With addition of MMT and TiO2 content the water solubility and moisture absorption were reduced significantly. Results of water contact angle test confirmed the results of moisture absorption, solubility in water and water vapor permeability and showed that the addition of TiO2 increased the surface hydrophobicity of starch-MMT films as with addition of 2% titanium dioxide in PS-3% MMT and PS-5% MMT films, the contact angle after 60 seconds increased 4 and 15 degree respectively. As a result, 1% wt TiO2 nanoparticles (FDA maximum allowable) can be regarded as the optimum concentration and the developed starch based nanocomposite films can enable undertaking applications as appropriate candidates in food packaging systems.
Masoud Taghizadeh; Behdad Shokrollahi; Fatemeh Hamedi
Abstract
Due to the need to find new protein sources with considering the fact that the bitter vetch seed has high levels of protein content, physicochemical and mechanical properties of bitter vetch seed and functional properties of its flour were evaluated in this study. The effects of altering the pH on protein ...
Read More
Due to the need to find new protein sources with considering the fact that the bitter vetch seed has high levels of protein content, physicochemical and mechanical properties of bitter vetch seed and functional properties of its flour were evaluated in this study. The effects of altering the pH on protein solubility, foaming capacity, foaming stability, emulsion capacity and emulsion stability were studied. The average length, width and height of the grains were 3.5638 mm, 3.6197 mm and 3.8365 mm. the arithmetic and the geometric mean diameter, sphericity and the area were 3.6733mm, 3.6701mm, 1. 0318 and 42.405mm2 respectively. The average true density, bulk density and porosity were 1326.6 kg/m3, 0.7962 kg/m3 and 40.2753% respectively. also the average coefficients of static friction of the plywood, glass, rubber, fiberglass and galvanized iron surface layer were 0.4348, 0.1943, 0.4244, 0.3249 and 0.3739 respectively. Flour produced from this seed contains 24% protein and 9% fat. water and oil absorbing capacity were obtained 2.01 ±0.01 and 1.77±0.03 respectively (grams of water or oil per grams of sample). The results also showed that changes in pH, affected the solubility, foaming capacity, foaming stability, emulsion capacity and emulsion stability of bitter vetch flour.
Nazila Dardmeh; Asghar Khosrowshahi; Hadi Almasi; Mohsen Zandi
Abstract
Introduction: Nanocomposites are prepared by introduction of dispersed nanoscale particles into the polymer matrix based on four methods: template synthesis (sol-gel preparation); intercalation of polymer; and in situ intercalative polymerization and last one is melt blending, the most favorable and ...
Read More
Introduction: Nanocomposites are prepared by introduction of dispersed nanoscale particles into the polymer matrix based on four methods: template synthesis (sol-gel preparation); intercalation of polymer; and in situ intercalative polymerization and last one is melt blending, the most favorable and practical method due to its simplest, economical and environmentally friendly technic. This method involves annealing, statically or under shear, a mixture of the polymer and organically modified clay at the softening point of the polymer based on usual compounding devices, such as, extruders or mixers (Papaspyridesb 2008). PET is a semicrystalline thermoplastic polyester which has been extensively used in all sizes as a packaging material in direct contact with food, beverages and as an alternative packaging to polyvinyl chloride for edible oils (Kirwan et al. 2011). As polymeric nanocomposites are mainly used as structural materials, the layered silicate clay are preferred. The crystal lattice of 2:1 layered silicates, consists of two-dimensional layers where a central octahedral sheet of alumina is fused to two external silica tetrahedral by the tip. Montmorillonite (MMT) belongs to type 2:1 layered smectite clay which in the basic structure, the trivalent Al-cation in the octahedral layer is partially substituted by the divalent Mg-cation (Pavlidoua and Papaspyridesb 2008). As evident, MMT is greatly hydrophilic in the interlayer and incompatible with organic polymer such as PET, thus to increase compatibility of clay with polymer, inorganic inter-layer cations (Na+, K+ or Ca2+) exchanged by the cationic surfactants (e.g., quaternary ammonium salt). Modified MMT or organoclay interacts better with polymer due to its increased gallery space (Utracki et al. 2007; Parvinzadeh et al.2010). Three different types polymer/clay nanocomposites can be obtained depending on the preparation method and the nature of the components used, including polymer matrix, layered silicate and organic cation. Tactoid nanocomposites formed when stacks of modified layered silicates are retained after introduction into the polymer. Subsequently, interaction between the nanolayers and polymer is not only unsuccessful but reduces mechanical properties of composite as well. Our main objective of this research was to study the effect of the nanoclay addition on mechanical, colorimetric and transparency properties of poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) nanocmposite films. Materials and methods: Bottle-grade poly (ethylene terephthalate) granules with intrinsic viscosity of (IV) = 0.82 dl g-1 were provided by the Iranian Tondgooyan Petrochemical company. The organically modified montmorillonite, Cloisite 15A, was supplied by Southern Clay Products Inc. Standard of TPA was supplied from Fluka Chemical, trademarked Sigma-Aldrich Corp., Switzerland. High-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) grade water, aceto-nitrile, acetic acid and methanol (HPLC grade) were purchased from Merck (Darmstadt, Germany). TPA was dissolved into methanol with a slight increase in temperature. Working standard solutions were prepared on the day of use at concentrations of 0.4, 40, 100 and 1,000 ppb and calibration graphs were plotted using these concentrations of standard solutions. The PET granules and nanoclay particles were dried in an oven for 24 h at 110 and 80C before extrusion, respectively. Melt blending technique was used for preparing nanocomposite films in a co-rotating twin screw extruder ZSK 25 .The temperature profile (throat to die) was as follows: 250, 270, 275, 270, 270 and 265C with a screw speed of 250 rpm. PET granules were dry mixed with 1, 3, and 5% wt of Cloisite 15A. The total weight of material per batch was 300 g. The resulting nano-composite strand was cooled in a water bath, granulated and dried overnight in oven at 110C. A laboratory press with a temperature plates of 280C under a pressure of 5 MPa for 10 min was applied to compress specimens. Then cooled them in water and ice bath to achieve transparent films. The influence of different amount of nanoclay addition on resultant nanocmposites was studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and mechanical test. Also, influence of nanoclay presence on water vapor permeability (WVP), color and transparency of the nanocomposites were investigated. Results & Discussion: The results showed that nanoclay addition improved the mechanical properties (Young’s modulus, elongation at break and tensile strength) and WVP up to 3% (wt). However, nanoclay addition reduced the transparency of resultant nanocomposites films but it prevented wave transmission at three UV region which leads to better protective effect of film as a food packaging materials. It seems that introduction of Cloisite 15A into the PET matrix reinforced the mechanical properties of resultant nanocomposites. The Young’s modulus of the nanocompo-sites significantly increased compared with the neat PET, indicating that PET/Cloisite 15A nanocomposites were stiffer than PET. The maximum Young’s modulus was observed for PET/C15A containing 3% wt with an increment about 8 MPa. This increase in modulus may be attributed to uniform dispersion and alignment of nanoclay along with compatibil-ity with PET matrix as confirmed by XRD, DSC and SEM. The Young’s modulus enhancement is consistent with that of other research (KIMet al. 2007; Scaffaroet al. 2011; Ghanbari et al. 2013a,b]. Tensile strength like elongation at break shows same trend, increases on increasing nanoclay content except for nanocomposite containing 5% which indicates brittle behavior compared to PET. This can be explained consider-ing that higher aspect ratio of nanoclay tends to aggregate and forms tactoids (as shown in SEM and XRD) and conse-quently indicates poor mechanical properties.
Fatemeh Tabari kouchaksaraei; Masoud Rezaei; Peyman Aryaee; Mehdi Abdollahi
Abstract
Introduction: An edible film is a thin layer, made of edible materials, which once formed can be placed on, or between food components. Protecting the product from mechanical, physical and chemical damages, as well as microbiological activities, are some of its functions (Falguera et al, 2011). The main ...
Read More
Introduction: An edible film is a thin layer, made of edible materials, which once formed can be placed on, or between food components. Protecting the product from mechanical, physical and chemical damages, as well as microbiological activities, are some of its functions (Falguera et al, 2011). The main materials made of these films are proteins, lipids and polysaccharides which are able to be used as alone or in blending form (Hernandez et al, 2008 ;Gennadios, 2004). Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), is a linear polysaccharide that its natural and biodegradable features cause to exhibit excellent film-forming properties (De Moura et al, 2011). Films prepared with these polymers, generally have good gas barrier properties and moderate to propriate mechanical features (Gutierrez et al, 2012). Using the edible, biodegradable films, due to the sensibility to moisture and poor mechanical properties particularly in moist status, is almost limited (Wang et al, 2009; Silva et al, 2009). Because of high hydrophilic property, CMC films also have a low resistant rate to water vapor permeability (Mohanty et al, 2000). Gum Tragacanth (Astragalus sp.) is another polysaccharide used to produce edible films and coatings. This gum can be widely used as a stabilizer, emulsifier and thickener in food industry, pharmaceutics and cosmetics (Azarikia & Abbasi, 2010). Tragacanth also has a prominent effect on physical and mechanical properties of the potato starch-based edible films (Fazel et al., 2002). It has also a proper blending potential in blending with other hydrocolloids, carbohydrates and most of proteins and lipids (Farahnaki et al., 2009). Yet, not any researches has made about the effect of blending tragacanth gum with other carbohydrate polymers. Blending of polymers can enhance the functional properties of the produced films (Bourtoom, 2008). Hereby, the current study has been done in order to preparate the best edible film with suitable physical, mechanical and biodegradable properties and has tried to introduce an ideal blend film made of different rates of carboxy methyl cellulose and tragacanth. Material and methods: In this research in order to improve the physico-chemical characteristics of biodegradable edible films, blending two polymers of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and tragacanth (Astragalus sp.) was studied. At first, it was tried to making the film. For this purpose in laboratory the solubles of CMC 1% w/w and tragacanth of 0/75% w/w were prepared. In order to dissolute the polymers, both polymers subjected to heat (75 օC) and following the temperature decrease (~ 40 օC), glycerol (20% of the polymer) was added to each one. Therefore, CMC and tragacanth were blended to each other at proportions of 25:75, 50:50, and 75:25 (v/v) and water vapor permeability, solubility, mechanical properties and microstructure were evaluated. Microstructure of the produced films was assigned by an electronic microscope (Philips, made in Netherlands). Thickness of samples was determined by a digital balance (0/0001 mm, Mitutoyo- made in Japan) via measuring in five points of each sample. Water vapor permeability, moisture content and solubility rate were conducted by standard. Tensile strength (TS) and elongation at break (EAB) were determined using an Instron universal testing machine (Model TVT 300 Xp, Sweden) operated according to the ASTM standard method D882-01(ASTM, 2002). Statistical Analysis performed by software of SPSS, ver. 20. Normality of data and homogeneity of data were conducted by Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Levene tests, respectively. For significance of treatments effect One-Way Anova and for statistical comparison of data Duncan test were performed. Results and discussion: The results showed that blended film of 50:50, as well as pure CMC film, had a smooth, flat surface without crack, showing that both polymers were properly blended. Among three blend proportions of two polymers, tensile strength was greatest in 50:50 whereas this amount in proportions of 50:50, 75:25 and 25:75 was recorded 44.59, 32.82 and 26.59 MPa, respectively. These results were in line with Ghanbarzadeh et al. (2011), who indicated the quality of maize starch-based films was suited by CMC and citric acid. With decrease of CMC content in blended films the elongation rate of films significantly decreased. This can be attributed to suitable interactions of the two polymers. This is in accordance with report of Tongdeesoontorn et al. (2011) and Mu et al. (2012), who found the different contents of CMC positively affected the films properties. Water vapor permeability was of better status at 50:50 and 25:75 than at 75:25. Solubility in water did not differ among three blend films but it had better conditions in pure CMC film whereas the blend films showed a decrease about 52 to 58% in solubility compared to the pure CMC film. The results of our research is consistent with findings of Tong et al. (2008), who investigated preparation and properties of pullulan -alginate- CMC blend films. The decrease of solubility can probably be due to proper interactions between CMC and tragacanth. Likewise, blending two polymers at different proportions decreased the moisture content of films. It can be stated that because of the linkages between tragacanth and carboxymethyl cellulose polymer chains, a compact structure has been created that not allows water molecules to presence and thus leads to a reduction in moisture content of films. This is in accordance with findings of Gutierrez et al. (2012), who reported that the increase of leaf extract in plant of murta improved the quality properties of the CMC films. Generally, from this investigation it is deduced that blending the two polymers in different proportions can improve some physico-chemical properties of the CMC- tragacanth edible film.
Marjan Haji Bagher Naeeni; Behjat Tajeddin; Gholamhasan Asadi; Babak Ghiassi Tarzi
Abstract
Introduction : Over the past 30 years with population growth, plastics have played an important role in the people's lives and its consumption is increasing. However, the most important problem of synthetic packaging materials is their total non-biodegradability that is causing environmental pollution.In ...
Read More
Introduction : Over the past 30 years with population growth, plastics have played an important role in the people's lives and its consumption is increasing. However, the most important problem of synthetic packaging materials is their total non-biodegradability that is causing environmental pollution.In recent years, concerns about the environmental problems caused by packaging materials and plastic derived from petroleum products as well as consumer demand for qualitative food products, hascaused researchers to find alternative materials with high biodegradability, which has led to the development of biocomposites.Therefore,wheat straw-low density polyethylene composite (as a renewable material) was prepared in order to reduce the consumption of plastics in the packaging industry and the effect of two different compatibilizers, maleic anhydride polyethylene (MAPE) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) on mechanical and physical properties of obtained biocomposites was investigated.Materials and Methods: Wheat straw (WS) was first dried at 30 ℃ for 24 hours. It was then manually cut to 2-3 cmpieces manually and then was milled. The ground wheat straw was screened through 40 mesh sieve. After that, all materials including WS flour, LDPE, MAPE , and PEG were blended to prepare the different biocomposites by twin-screw extruder. The extruded materials were cut into smaller pieces proper for the next processing step by grinder.grinded. The obtained granules were then placed in the injection-molded machineto create the test samples.so combinations, respectively, were considered : WS, LDPE, MAPE (sample 1) WS, LDPE, PEG (sample 2) , LDPE (sample 3) and WS, LDPE (sample 4).Water absorption test was performed according to ASTM D 570-98 in order to study the amount of moisture absorbed by the composite samples. The samples were weighed for 9 weeks, the first time, after 24 hours, then once a week. For this purpose, samples were taken out of the water then surface moisture was dried, finally moisture absorption was calculated according to weight changes.Biodegradability test was carried out based on soil burial method for 4 monthsaccording to ASTM 6400-99. In this test, samples were taken out of the soil and washed by water every 15 days. They were thenplaced in an oven at 100℃ for 24 hours. Subsequently, samples were weighed by a digital scale with an accuracy of 0.1 mg.The amount of degradation was calculated by controlling weight changes over the time.The tensile strength, the maximum amount of force taken by a material before its failure was performed to evaluate the effect of natural fiber on the composite characteristics. It is measured with units (Pa) and (Mpa). The test was done according to ASTM D 638-08by Instron machine.The flexural strength of a material is defined as its ability to resist deformation under load. The test was done according to ASTM D790-10by Instron machine.It wasalso measured with units (Pa) and (Mpa). Result and Discussion: The results showed that the use of PEG compare with MAPE greatly increased the rate of water absorption and biodegradation of samples. It may be because of PEG's hydrophilic property that cannot act well as MAPE. Therefore, it creates an improper and weak interface adhesion between the wheat straw and polyethylene, resulting in gaps and cracks in this section. Thus, water absorption is higher in composites containing PEG. These factors also caused faster degradation in samples containing PEG. However, the use of MAPE in the composites improved surface adhesion between the wheat straw fiber and polyethylene, and therefore less water absorption and degradationwas observed.In terms of mechanical properties samples containing MAPE had greater tensile and flexural strength compared to samples containing the PEG.Because MAPE creates an ester bond in composite, which improves the interfaceadhesion of wheat straw particles and polyethylene, but when the PEG used, adhesion between wheat straw particles and polyethylene is not enough to increase the efficiency of stress transfer from the matrix to the fibers.Since almost all properties of materials are associated with each other, it cannot be introduce a combination that all properties is best. Therefore, when high biodegradability is desired, sample containing PEG is suitable but in terms of mechanical properties and resistance to water absorption, the sample containing MAPE is best combination.
Nasrin Jamshidi; Babak Ghanbarzadeh; Jalal Dehghan nia; Mahood Sowti Khiabani; Ali Akbar Entezami
Abstract
Cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) is a type of nanomaterial which is produced by partial hydrolysis of cellulose and elimination of its amorphous regions. CNC has several advantages such biodegradability and safety toward human health. In this study, CNC was produced from cotton linters and methods such transmission ...
Read More
Cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) is a type of nanomaterial which is produced by partial hydrolysis of cellulose and elimination of its amorphous regions. CNC has several advantages such biodegradability and safety toward human health. In this study, CNC was produced from cotton linters and methods such transmission electron microscopy which were used for confirmation of nanoscale size production of cellulose crystals. Due to the disadvantages of pure starch films, in the present research, for improving the properties of plasticized starch-PVOH films, from nanoparticles CNC and TiO2 are used together, then effects of nanoparticles and glycerol determined on physical properties by response surface methodology (RSM). CNC and GLY showed significant linear effects on ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of nanocomposit and there were significant interaction effects between TiO2 and CNC, and also between GLY and TiO2. The optimum levels of TiO2, CNC and GLY for obtaining maximum UTS were as 0.118, 0.6 g and 1.06 ml, respectively. In addition, the TiO2 concentration had linear and quadratic effect on the contact angles of bionanocomposites and optimum levels of TiO2, CNC and GLY for obtaining maximum contact angles were 0.112, 0.299 g and 1.06 ml, respectively. UV-visible spectroscopy studies in the wavelength range 200–800 nm showed that adding of CNC and TiO2 decrease the light transmission and increase the opacity, adding of glycerol increase the light transmission and decrease the opacity.
Abdolhossien Aghababaei; Reza Kasaai
Abstract
Pollution arising from plastic waste materials caused a great worry for researchers who are interested in protection of environment. This problem shifts their subject to bio-polymers for applications in packaging industries. However, their low water barrier properties are a critical problem. The effects ...
Read More
Pollution arising from plastic waste materials caused a great worry for researchers who are interested in protection of environment. This problem shifts their subject to bio-polymers for applications in packaging industries. However, their low water barrier properties are a critical problem. The effects of citric acid and methyl cellulose on water vapor and oxygen permeabilities and mechanical properties of starch composite thin films have been studied. Water vapor permeability (WVP) has been measured using a vial coated by a film. Oxygen transmission rate (OTR) of a film was determined from measurement of peroxide value for a definite amount of oil that is placed in a vial and coated by the film. Mechanical properties were measured using a tensile machine. Increase in citric acid concentration up to 5% citric acid (w/w), resulted in a decrease in water vapor and oxygen permeabilities. A film containing 5% of citric acid exhibited a minimum value for WVP, whereas the value of WVP and elongation at the break increased and tensile strength decreased for a film containing 20% of citric acid (w/w). Increase in methyl cellulose up to 30% resulted in decrease in WVP and OTR.
