Starch-Based Composites: An Eco-Friendly Alternative for Food Packaging

The waste generated from petroleum-based or synthetic plastic has imposed severe pollution problems for a sustainable environment. There is a need for urgent development of bioplastic for commercial and industrial utilization. Different starch-based composites for several applications have been developed. However, the addition of nanomaterial into bioplastic as the reinforcement can improve the biopolymer properties. This study aims to show the potential of biodegradable packaging materials from thermoplastic African yam bean starch (TPS) reinforced with nano-clay (Montmorillonite) using the solution casting method. Starch was extracted from African yam beans using the wet extraction method. Thermoplastic starches were prepared by the addition of 5% plasticizer to the starch solutions and the thermoplastic starches were reinforced with various amounts (0,1, 2, 3,4 and 5 wt%) of natural nano clay (Montmorillonite). The SEM results reveal a good interaction between the matrix and reinforcement. The XRD pattern of the thermoplastic without nano-clay showed diffraction peaks at 2θ of 20.00
^◦
. The XRD pattern of thermoplastic starch nano biocomposite (1, 2, 3 and 4wt%)) showed diffraction peaks at 2θ of 19.91
^◦
, 19.24
^◦
, 19.92
^◦
and 19.80
^◦
respectively. The decomposition temperature of the films was increased by the incorporation of Montmorillonite nano-clay. The results reveal that the prepared biocomposites would be a better alternative material to be used as good packaging materials to reduce the use of non-degradable synthetic plastic.