CHITOSAN AND RICE STARCH FILMS AS PACKAGING MATERIALS

Producers of bio-based materials are keen on replacing oil-based packaging materials with green, sustainable materials which also have improved mechanical, antimicrobial, barrier properties. One of the most nontoxic and widely used polymers are polysaccharides, chitosan being one of them. This research shows the preparation, characterisation of the chitosan and rice starch films. The aim of the research was to improve the mechanical, moisture and optical properties of chitosan, rice starch and composite chitosan-rice starch film using ultrasonic treatment. Our research was focused on the effect of ultrasonic treatment on the solutions for the preparation of the mentioned films. The results showed that an ultrasonic treatment improved elasticity, moisture resistance and that films were more transparent. Elongation at break and tensile strength increased, especially at blend films. Moreover, moisture content showed a decrease proportional to an increase in thickness with decreasing film solubility at all treated samples. The surface at untreated blend film was more uneven compared to chitosan and rice starch films, which improved after the treatment. However, preparing film solutions with ultrasound is an improved procedure to increase many properties of biodegradable films and in this form could be used as packaging materials.