Fabrication and characterization of corn starch based bioplastic for packaging applications

Abstract

Plastic packaging plays a significant part in keeping food safe. However, there are essential concerns for human health and the environment due to its non-biodegradable nature, recycling difficulty, and hazardous chemicals leaking into food and soil.The development of novel packaging materials emphasizing the environment, food quality, and safety is also required by global packaging regulations and awareness of plastic packaging. Therefore, there is a pressing need to investigate bio-sourced polymer-based substitutes for non-biodegradable food packaging materials. Wherever petroleum-based plastics are used, bioplastics have a lot of potential and are widely accepted. It can satisfy the growing demand for biodegradable products. This research project aims to create two types of bioplastic films: corn starch-based and corn starch with silver-based.Corn starch is biodegradable; metallic Silver reinforces bioplastic and increases its antimicrobial properties. Both samples have been carefully characterized by the Soil Burial Test (SBT), Moisture Test, Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), antimicrobial analysis tests, Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis. The surface morphology of the developed bioplastic has been shown in the SEM images. The water absorption capacity was also investigated, and it was found to be directly related to their characteristic of biodegradation. Similar findings have been made by earlier research, which showed that a high degradable starch concentration boosted water absorption. Enhanced microbial and enzyme activity through more excellent water absorption typically leads to faster biodegradation. The creation of starch bioplastics and composite bioplastics has already occurred, as shown by the functional groups O–H, C–H, C=O, and C–O, as validated by FTIR spectroscopy. The films were also subjected to improved antimicrobial tests against S. aureus and E. coli, whereby they depicted potential antimicrobial properties. Corn starch with silver-based samples increased antimicrobial properties and showed a 44 % bacterial reduction rate against E. coli and 50 % against S. aureus. The prepared bioplastic samples can be utilized as a developing substitute for traditional polymers in packaging made of bio-sourced materials due to their wide availability, biodegradability, easy processing, and good antimicrobial and barrier properties.