Tragacanth Modified Dense Membranes

E. ANDRÉS TAKARA; A. MARTIN MASUELLI; ADOLFO ACOSTA; JOSÉ MARCHESE

Santander

Congreso; IX Congreso Iberoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnología de Membrana; 2014

Ibero-American Congress on Membrane Science and Technology

A variety of renewable biopolymers such as polysaccharides derived from plants have been investigated for the development of edible/biodegradable, non-petrochemical-based packaging materials and edible coatings. Tragacanth gum is an interesting alternative to synthetic water-barrier polymers in packaging applications. Films have low water permeability under dry conditions due to their high content of hydrogen bonds. Films were prepared from aqueous solution of tragacanth (exudate tree called Astragalus Gossipinus). Then they were crosslinked with glutaraldehyde (Sigma Grade II) at different ratios (5, 7 and 10% vol.) and contact times from 0.2 to 120 hours, in 100 ml of acetone-HCl 1% vol (Biopack) solution.