Optimized and scaled-up production of cellulose-reinforced biodegradable composite films made up of carrot processing waste

Abstract

The ever-growing environmental concern arising from the unrestricted exploitation of fossil sources for the massive production of non-biodegradable materials encourages research on alternative renewable resources. We herein pave the route for the production of biodegradable biocomposites made up of carrot minimal processing waste (CMPW) by optimizing its combination with hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and high-pressure microfluidized cellulose fibers, which played ligand and mechanical reinforcement roles, respectively. Ternary mixture designs established mathematical models aimed at structure-composition-property correlations, allowing their mechanical performances to be innovatively predicted without the need for further experiments. The optimized formulation comprised 33 wt.% CPMW and led to biodegradable biocomposites featuring ca. 30 MPa of tensile strength, ca. 3% elongation at break, and ca. 2 GPa of Young's modulus, properties which are suitable for food packaging applications. Finally, the film-forming protocol was successfully scaled-up through a continuous casting approach, allowing the production of 1.56 m 2 of biodegradable biocomposite in each hour. While scaling up did not affect film's barrier to moisture, it did impair its mechanical behavior.

Reinforcement of Na-Alginate Based Films with Carrot Juice Processing Wastes

“…improved with respect to sugar palm fibre addition [13]. In recent studies, carrot pulp was also employed in the biobased pectin or HPMC films in order to improve the mechanical properties of the films as well as functional properties like hydration and antioxidant capacity [7,12].…”

“…improved with respect to sugar palm fibre addition [13]. In recent studies, carrot pulp was also employed in the biobased pectin or HPMC films in order to improve the mechanical properties of the films as well as functional properties like hydration and antioxidant capacity [7,12]. The aim of this article was to investigate the effect of carrot pulp cellulose addition into the Na-alginate based films on water vapour permeability and characterization of the obtained films was carried out by using spectroscopic (colour), optical (transmittance), morphological (SEM) and crystalline structure (XRD) analysis.…”

“…Agro-industrial wastes especially from fruit and vegetable processing by-products mainly composed of cellulosic fibres, and recently these wastes are taking part in the biodegradable packaging film formulations as novel and "green" alternatives for mechanical reinforcement and improvement of barrier properties of films [7,11,12,13]. For example, seaweed based films that were reinforced with microcrystalline cellulose extracted from bamboo had better mechanical and water barrier properties compared to neat seaweed films [14].…”

Reuse of Different Agroindustrial Wastes: Pinhão and Pecan Nutshells Incorporated into Biocomposites Using Thermocompression

“…In order to minimize the production costs and searching for alternatives for the reuse of wastes that would be discarded by the industry, and considering improving some specific properties and/or characteristics, some researches are focused on the incorporation of several waste types in different polymeric matrices for the development of new materials [33][34][35][36][37][38]. However, to the best of our knowledge, the use of agroindustrial residues from pinhão and pecan nutshells in the production of biocomposites has not been widely reported in the literature.…”

Green Preparation of Straw Fiber Reinforced Hydrolyzed Soy Protein Isolate/Urea/Formaldehyde Composites for Biocomposite Flower Pots Application

“…During recent decades, one of the most widely discussed topics in the green industry, which is propagated by consumers exhibiting greater degrees of environmental awareness, is environmental sustainability [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Commercial greenhouse and nursery industries often produce crops in plastic pots of varying sizes and shapes, depending on the crop and target market.…”