Biodegradability assessment of new bioplastic material made from whey protein

BURDISSO, M. L.; SALVATIERRA, L. M.; GIORDANO, R. M.; PEREZ, L. M.

Buenos Aires

Workshop; II Workshop on Biodegradable Polymers and Biocomposites & III Workshop BIOPURFIL, Bio-based Polyurethane Composites with Natural Fillers; 2015

Instituto de Tecnología en Polímeros y Nanotecnologia (ITPN-UBA, CONICET); Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales (INTEMA-CONICET))

Biodegradable polymers derived from natural resources have attracted lotsof attention since these materials are considered as a potential substitute forexisting petroleum-based synthetic polymers. Especially in the packaging field,the development of biodegradable plastic materials could not only ease thesolid waste contamination problem but, in some cases, also provide newapplications for industrial by-products. Cheese whey is the most importantpollutant in dairy wastewaters. Several studies have been published on the useof whey protein for development of packaging films or wrapping materials bycasting with very promising results. But little is done in order to obtain moresolid biodegradable materials made from whey by using technologies frequentlyadopted at the plastic industry.