Embalagem biodegradável de algodão e filme antioxidante de quitosana para aplicação silmultânea em embalagens de alimentos

Abstract

Synthetic polymeric packaging generates accumulation in the environment after its use, causing harmful damages to the environment. This leads to a growing interest in studies that develop

food packaging that is biodegradable and composed to promote a reduction in the use of non- reusable containers. The objective of this work is to produce and characterize a biodegradable

cotton packaging, coated with an antioxidant film for future selection of its application as an active packaging for food, as an alternative to replace polymeric packaging of synthetic origin that takes years to decompose in the environment, using by-products of primary materials that are normally discarded, adding value to it and obtaining a useful material, of low cost and accessible origin. The development of the used cotton trays (BJ) or simplex-centroid experimental design with nine experimental tests, including three true replicates at the central point and the effects of three variable variables were investigated: cotton seed, cotton plume and alcohol carbonate. As replaced variables analyzed for the following ranges: wetting contact angle, thermogravimetric analysis, color, thickness, mechanical properties, scanning electron microscopy, water vapor permeability, solubility and biodegradability. For characterization of films were evaluated: wetting contact angle, thickness, water vapor permeability, moisture content, solubility and antioxidant capacity by ABTS, DPPH and FRAP methods. All as trays, regardless of their composition, were produced in a molding process at a temperature of 135 ° C, with a pressure of 0.36 MPa. As BJ with lesser amounts of cotton plume and greater amounts of calcium carbonate found a greater thickness. The observed values for maximum tension of the trays show that, BJ2 has better resistance. Being confirmed through the images obtained in the SEM, it is possible to highlight that the BJ2 has favorable characteristics for a tray with better mechanical resistance due to the presence of cotton fibers throughout its structure. With the thermogravimetric analysis it was found that despite the different formulations, the trays have the same thermal behavior. It was noted that BJs with higher concentrations of plume and lower concentrations of cottonseed have greater luminosity. While in analyzes such as water vapor permeability and solubility, BJs with a lower concentration of plume and a higher concentration of cottonseed are more permeable and soluble in water. All BJs are hydrophilic with a wetting angle of <90o and all trays can be considered biodegradable, degrading up to 180 days with 90% loss of mass. The chitosan films produced are hydrophilic with a wetting contact angle <90o as well as the trays. For thickness, it was observed that the greater the amount of chitosan powder, the greater the thickness, which also occurred for water vapor permeability, with film 3 having greater thickness and permeability. The moisture content, solubility and swelling degree was lower for film 1 with 7.51%, 17.07% and 93.91% respectively. To determine the antioxidant capacity in vitro, the films showed greater results by the ABTS method compared to the DPPH and FRAP methods. Film 2 being suitable for fatty foods while film 1 showed the highest antioxidant capacity compared to the simulant of alcoholic products. Through these, it was possible to elaborate and characterize a biodegradable packaging produced with cottonseed, cotton plume and calcium carbonate, as well as it was also possible to produce chitosan-based films with antioxidant characteristics to coat the tray.