STARCH FILMS CROSSLINKED WITH CITRIC ACID

LAMANNA, MELISA; GABILONDO, NAGORE; CORCUERA, MARIA DE LOS ANGELES; GOYANES, SILVIA

Roma

Conferencia; 4rd International Conference on Biodegradable and Biobased Polymers, BIOPOL 2013; 2013

Biopol 2013

Mainly due to environmental aims, petroleum based plastics are being replaced by natural polymers. For this purpose, several works study the possibility to employ starch, a biodegradable polymer that comes from renewable resources, has high availability and low cost. However, its application as alternative packaging is limited by its poor mechanical properties and its high water vapor permeability. Crosslinking reaction appears as a common approach to improve the starch performance for various applications. This reaction leads to new chemical bonds between the molecular chains and a different polymer network is obtained. Thus, the crossling affecs the retrogradation, barrier properties, thermal stability, water solubility, glass transition temperature and turns the polymer into a more rigid and stronger material [1]. Citric acid is a natural crosslinking agent that has been used to crosslink starch but as a disadvantage starch hydrolysis could also ocurr. The aim of this work was to study the swelling degree and the thermal properties of cassava starch crosslinked with citric acid (CA), depending on the gelatinization temperature and the stage at which the platicize was added