Biodegradable films derived from corn and potato starch and study of the effect of silicate extracted from sugarcane waste ash

Abstract

The growing concern with the amount of plastic materials found in the oceans makes it necessary to develop biodegradable materials that have low toxicity to marine animals and humans, but at the same time are resistant to the actions of microorganisms such as fungi or bacteria. On the other hand, agricultural waste rich in inorganic materials (such as silica) is often discarded, while it could be reused as a source of raw material. Considering these points, sodium silicate solution extracted from sugarcane waste ash was utilized to prepare biodegradable bioplastics based on corn starch and potato starch. The starch-based bioplastics were produced by casting and characterized by several physical-chemical techniques evaluating tensile strength, elongation at break, color analyses, transparency, opacity, moisture, and biodegradation assay. Bioplastics prepared with corn starch presented better physical, mechanical, and thermal properties and optical quality than bioplastics based on potato starch. The samples called CS3 and PS3, with 5.0% glycerol, were the most resistant to tensile strengths of 0.73 and 0.36 MPa, respectively. On the other hand, the highest elongation at break values were found for the samples with 7.5% glycerol (CS9, 52.90% and PS9, 49.33%). Corn starch-based bioplastics were more thermally resistant (CS3, 152.86 °C and CS9, 135.20 °C) when compared to potato starch-based bioplastics (PS3, 140.39 °C and PS9, 127.57 °C). In general, the addition of sodium silicate solution improved the mechanical and thermal properties of both types of bioplastics. The potato starch-based bioplastics were biodegraded in 5 days, while those made from corn starch took almost 40 days. The inclusion of sodium silicate inhibited fungal growth for both corn starch and potato starch bioplastics. The results suggest that sodium silicate solution obtained from renewable sources can be incorporated into starch-based bioplastics for production of biodegradable packaging with antifungal activity.