Preparation and characterization of Cellulose and Hemi-Cellulose based degradable composite material using sugarcane waste

In recent years, polymer based composites have become more popular in many scientific researches as well as many commercial programs. Growing global, environmental and social concern, the high rate of depletion of petroleum resources and new environmental regulations has forced the search for new types of composites and environment friendly materials. The objective of this research is extraction of Cellulose and Hemi-Cellulose from sugarcane waste to develop degradable composite material for packaging applications. The goal of this research is to make a synthetic polymer based composite (Low Density Polyethylene) degradable by adding natural substances (Cellulose and Hemi-Cellulose). Degradability of the developed composited was evaluated by measuring tensile strength, elongation, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopic evaluation, and water absorption and weight loss properties before and after soil burial test. Experiment results showed that there was a significant degradation of the developed composite material after soil burial test.