Barrier Performance of Gelatin Coated PLA -Films

MERCEDES LEOBONO; MARÍA CRISTINA FROVA; RUTH MARÍA ZACUR; DANIEL RICARDO ERCOLI; GRACIELA SUSANA GOIZUETA

Granada

Congreso; EPF 2011, XII GEP Congress; 2011

Most commercial films for food packaging applications requiring high barrier to oxygen and water vapor are made of multilayer structures of oxygen barrier polymers such as poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) and other polymers which provide useful mechanical properties and moisture-proof layers (polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene, etc.) (1,2). Due to the increasing need of minimizing environmental effects associated with polymers from fossil fuels, the development of environmentally benign plastics has attracted much of attention. One of the most promising candidates for this purpose is Poly(lactic acid) (PLA), a linear thermoplastic polyester produced from renewable resources (whey or corn) and biodegradable in compost (3). Particularly among proteins gelatin is cheap and abundant. Its good film forming characteristics, extremely high barrier to oxygen and inherent biodegradability make it a very attractive candidate to be considered as a coating material for PLA. Performance of PLA films coated with pure and glycerol plasticized gelatin are presented in this work in terms of their Oxygen (OP) and Water Vapor Permeability (WVP), mechanical and friction properties.