Salt modified starch: sustainable, recyclable plastics

Abstract

The ubiquitous nature of starch makes it a tantalising basis of sustainable plastic manufacture. Extensive hydrogen bonding between chains, however, makes the plasticisation of starch difficult but this work shows that the incorporation of a simple quaternary ammonium salt can lead to a flexible plastic with mechanical properties similar to oil derived plastics. Compression-moulding produces a transparent material with mechanical strength which is similar to some polyolefin plastics. It is shown that the material can be extruded and/or compression-moulded and these processes improve further the mechanical strength of the samples. Most importantly, it is shown that these plastics are recyclable and ultimately compostable.

Mechanical and barrier properties of starch-based films plasticized with two- or three component deep eutectic solvents

“…Mainly CC:U (Abbott et al, 2012;Leroy et al, 2012;Ramesh, Shanti & Morris, 2012;Zdanowicz et al, 2011); CC:glycerol (Leroy et al, 2012) and CC:carboxylic acids mixtures (Zdanowicz et al, 2011) have been tested as plasticizers for unmodified starch. Very recently, imidazole-based DESs were studied as starch plasticizers or solvents (Zdanowicz, Spychaj & Mąka, 2016).…”

“…Over the last two decades novel plasticizers from a group of materials named deep eutectic solvents, or low temperature transition mixtures, have been tested as polysaccharide plasticizing agents (Abbott, Ballantyne, Conde, Ryder & Wise, 2012;Leroy et al, 2012;Ramesh, Shanti & Morris, 2012;Zdanowicz & Spychaj, 2011). Deep eutectic solvents (DES) are mixtures of two or more components where the melting temperature of the mixture is much lower than the melting temperature (T m ) of the individual components.…”

“…Very recently, imidazole-based DESs were studied as starch plasticizers or solvents (Zdanowicz, Spychaj & Mąka, 2016). Most of these reports are related to unmodified corn starch films performed via extrusion (Leroy et al, 2012), melt processing (Abbott et al, 2012) or casting method (Ramesh et al, 2012).…”

“…For well-known DESs described as starch plasticizers like CC:U and CC:G(Abbott et al, 2012, Ramesh et al,2012, Zdanowicz et al, 2011 WVTRs were much higher than for TPS or TPS/G (675 g/m 2 ·24 h for TPS/CC:G and 652 g/m 2 ·24 h for TPS/CC:U), which was ascribed to the presence of choline chloride in the eutectic mixture. For TPS films plasticized with DESs only materials containing sorbitol have low WVTR values: 190 g/m 2 ·24 h for TPS/CC:S, which is lower than for the reference sample.…”

Deep Eutectic Solvents Playing Multiple Roles in the Synthesis of Porous Carbon Materials

“…Organic synthesis [13][14][15][16][17][18][19], separation processes [20][21][22][23], biomass processing [24][25][26][27][28][29], and carbon dioxide adsorption [30,31] constitute the principal fields where DESs have been applied. Moreover, the eco-friendly and low-toxic character of some DESs has allowed their use as solvents for both natural and synthetic membrane-like structures [32] and proteins [33][34][35][36] and even for whole microorganisms [37] with preservation of their intrinsic activity.…”