Sustainable Biocomposites from Biofuel Co-Product and Biodegradable Plastic: Effect of Pyrolysis and Compatibilizer on Performance

Abstract

Distillers’ dried grains with soluble (DDGS), a by-product of the corn ethanol industry, has been shown to be useful as a filler in biocomposites. Work was done comparing the impacts of heat treatment (torrefaction, at 300°C) of DDGS and inclusion of compatibilizer on properties of a DDGS-filled biocomposite. The untreated or heat-treated DDGS (30 wt.%) was blended with poly (butylene succinate co butylene adipate) (PBSA) (70 wt.%), or PBSA offset with 3 wt.% maleic anhydride-grafted PBSA. As a result of the inclusion of DDGS, tensile and flexural modulus increased by 68% and 72%, respectively. The torrefaction heat treatment was shown to degrade the hemicellulosic content of the DDGS, which restored thermal stability lost with the addition of untreated DDGS. The improved compatibility with the addition of MA-g-PBSA resulted in improvement in heat deflection temperature , as well as tensile strength and flexural strengths, in both untreated and heat-treated samples. Notably, tensile and flexural strengths were further enhanced in the case of the untreated DDGS. Overall, this study shows how filler treatment combined with compatibilization in PBSA biocomposites impact material performance and their variability in specific properties when it comes to application options.

Keywords

• Biocomposite
• Pyrolysis
• Compatibilization
• DDGS
• PBSA