Turning Wood Autohydrolysate Directly into Food Packing Composite Films with Good Toughness

Abstract

Bio-based composite films were produced by incorporating wood autohydrolysate (WH), chitosan (CS), and cellulose nanocrystals (CNC). In this work, WH was directly utilized without further purification, and CNC was introduced as the reinforced material to prepare WH-CS-CNC composite films with excellent properties. The effects of CNC on the properties of WH-CS-CNC composite films were investigated by characterizing their structures, mechanical properties, oxygen barrier, and thermal stability properties. The results suggested that CNC could improve tensile strength of the composite films, and the tensile strain at break could be up to 4.7%. Besides, the oxygen permeability of the prepared composite films could be as low as 3.57 cm 3 /day⋅m 2 ⋅kPa, making them suitable for the food packaging materials. These above results showed that the addition of CNC is an effective method to enhance the toughness of composite films. In addition, WH-CS-CNC composite films have great potential in the field of sustainable food packing materials.

Poplar Hot Water Extract Enhances Barrier and Antioxidant Properties of Chitosan/Bentonite Composite Film for Packaging Applications

“…The same situation was also observed in CS-BT-HWE 10 . These observations demonstrate the interaction between HWE and chitosan, but the interaction preferably occurs at the amine site [57], that is, the Maillard reaction consumes a large amount of amino groups [58]. At the same time, it is consistent with the measurement results of the content of the free amino group.…”

Regenerated Cellulose Films with Amino-Terminated Hyperbranched Polyamic Anchored Nanosilver for Active Food Packaging

“…Mechanical properties are significant factors for food packing films in the application . The tensile strength and tensile strain of regenerated cellulose films were shown in Figure g.…”

“…Mechanical properties are significant factors for food packing films in the application. 47 The tensile strength and tensile strain of regenerated cellulose films were shown in Figure 4g. The tensile strength and tensile strain of oxidized cellulose film (Figure 4g (2)) were reduced compared to that of cellulose film (Figure 4g (1)), due to the fact that the consumption of hydroxyl groups during oxidation weakened the hydrogen bonding between cellulose molecules.…”