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Sugar palm fiber (SPF) is an agro‐waste plant that can be used as potential source of biomass for various biomaterial applications. In this study, sugar palm nanofibrillated cellulose (SPNFC) that was isolated from SPF was used as a nanofiller to reinforce sugar palm starch (SPS) to produce bionanocomposites. To attain SPNFCs, SPF was undergo strong acid and alkaline treatments. Later, the SPNFCs were prepared from SPFs via high pressurized homogenization process. The reinforcement of SPNFCs (0‐1.0 wt%) and SPS is done by using solution casting methods. The films were characterized in terms of physical properties such as light transmittance, moisture content, water solubility, and water absorption. The resulting nanocomposites permitted better water resistance, low moisture absorption, and low light transmittance as compared to control SPS film. Adding 1 wt% SPNFCs loading significantly improved the water absorption and water solubility of the composite film by 24.13% and 18.60%, respectively, compared with the control SPS film. This was attributed to the high compatibility between the SPNFCs and SPS matrixes, which composed of the multi‐hydroxyl polymer having three hydroxyl groups per monomer. Thus, this study is to show the potential of SPS/SPNFCs nanocomposite films in packaging industries.

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An environmentally-safe, water-borne coating consisting of titania nanoparticles and fluorine-free polyethylene copolymers, forming a transparent, substrate-independent, superhydrophobic water barrier.

Sugar palm (Arenga pinnata) starch and fibre are considered as a waste product of the agroindustry. The purpose of the current study is to determine the thermal, water barrier, and soil degradation properties of biodegradable plasticised sugar palm starch (PSPS) that contains sugar palm nanofibrillated celluloses (SP-NFCs) derived from sugar palm fibre. The bio-nanocomposites were fabricated by using the solution-casting method with the nanocellulose contents in the range of 0.1 wt.%–1.0 wt.%. The thermal stability, water resistance and degradation behaviour improved with increase in SP-NFCs content, due to high compatibility and strong inter-molecular hydrogen bonds formed between PSPS and SP-NFCs. PSPS/SP-NFCs bio-nanocomposites with 1.0 wt.% SP-NFCs content displayed the highest mechanical and thermal stability. Residue that was left during the TGA analysis increased as the SP-NFCs content was increased. Soil burial tests showed biodegradability resistance of the bio-nanocomposites. The following conclusions can be drawn from the present reinforcement study of SP-NFCs enhanced biodegradability, water barrier as well as thermal properties of starch polymer which extended the prospective application of environmentally-friendly polymer material. Potential applications for this eco-material are short product life cycles (plastic packaging and food container).

There has been much effort to provide eco-friendly and biodegradable materials for the next generation of composite products owing to global environmental concerns and increased awareness of renewable green resources. This review article uniquely highlights the use of green composites from natural fiber, particularly with regard to the development and characterization of chitosan, natural-fiber-reinforced chitosan biopolymer, chitosan blends, and chitosan nanocomposites. Natural fiber composites have a number of advantages such as durability, low cost, low weight, high specific strength, non-abrasiveness, equitably good mechanical properties, environmental friendliness, and biodegradability. Findings revealed that chitosan is a natural fiber that falls to the animal fiber category. As it has a biomaterial form, chitosan can be presented as hydrogels, sponges, film, and porous membrane. There are different processing methods in the preparation of chitosan composites such as solution and solvent casting, dipping and spray coating, freeze casting and drying, layer-by-layer preparation, and extrusion. It was also reported that the developed chitosan-based composites possess high thermal stability, as well as good chemical and physical properties. In these regards, chitosan-based “green” composites have wide applicability and potential in the industry of biomedicine, cosmetology, papermaking, wastewater treatment, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals.

A novel nanomaterial, bacterial cellulose (BC), has become noteworthy recently due to its better physicochemical properties and biodegradability, which are desirable for various applications. Since cost is a significant limitation in the production of cellulose, current efforts are focused on the use of industrial waste as a cost-effective substrate for the synthesis of BC or microbial cellulose. The utilization of industrial wastes and byproduct streams as fermentation media could improve the cost-competitiveness of BC production. This paper examines the feasibility of using typical wastes generated by industry sectors as sources of nutrients (carbon and nitrogen) for the commercial-scale production of BC. Numerous preliminary findings in the literature data have revealed the potential to yield a high concentration of BC from various industrial wastes. These findings indicated the need to optimize culture conditions, aiming for improved large-scale production of BC from waste streams.