Fabrication of improved cellulose acetate-based biodegradable films for food packaging applications

Abstract

Biodegradable polymers based food packaging films can replace the non-biodegradable synthetic polymers in the way of low cost and also which creates a positive outcome on both environmentally and economically. For the first time naturally occurring alginate and carrageenan which is extracted from seaweeds and cellulose acetate (CA) blended novel food packaging films were fabricated by solvent casting technique. All the films such as bare CA (F1), polysaccharides incorporated films (F2 and F3) have been characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Addition of polysaccharides such as sodium alginate (SA) and carrageenan (CG) greatly increased the tensile strength and thermal stability of the prepared films. The surface morphologies indicated better homogenization of biopolymers like F2 and F3. Antibacterial activity of the film was studied. The prepared polysaccharide films inhibit the growth of certain type of microorganisms. Biodegradability tests were also carried out which indicated that the prepared films were biodegradable in nature.

Keywords

• Food packaging
• Biodegradable
• Seaweeds
• Casting technique
• Film