Role of plasticizers in bioplastics

Currently, a variety of petroleum based plastic materials are dominating the packaging industries owing to their durability, versatility, light-weight and most importantly their cost-effectiveness. This trend is being overcome by the growing concern towards environmental pollution caused by the production as well as the disposal of these materials and the presence of toxic substances that could migrate from the packaging material to the product causing potential risk to human health while using the product. Biopolymers, is a promising green alternative to synthetic, non-degradable polymers. These natural polymers (polysaccharides, proteins and lipids) are much more suitable components for food as well as non-food packaging applications due to their qualities of renew-ability, degradability and edibility. However, poor water vapour barrier properties of carbohydrates (polysaccharides) and proteins, and low elasticity of lipids are the main limitations for their use as commercial packaging materials. In this regard plasticizers provide the necessary workability to biopolymers. This review gives a brief insight into their plasticization effects, types, properties along with their effect and recent applications on bio-based materials, with special reference to a new class of plasticizers, Ionic liquids.