Avaliation of the physical-chemical properties of bioplastic with pectin as base with different plastifying agents.

• Grant number: 23/06345-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2023
• End date: July 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Michel Brienzo
• Grantee: Ana Laura Jurkiewicz Kunigk
• Host Institution: Instituto de Pesquisa em Bioenergia (IPBEN). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 17/22401-8 - Fruit-refinery: obtention processes, characterization methods and generation of products derived from residues of the fruitculture, AP.TEM

Abstract

Since the first industrial revolution, the search for a faster production of productshas become one of the major focuses of the global economy. Trade became based onephemeral and easily discarded products with the intense use of plastics, in whichenvironmental problems, such as the high amount of waste discarded and its lowbiodegradability, increased together with the amount of sanitary landfills. So, in order to change this scenario, plastics with biodegradable characteristics become asolution to the increasing problem. Those studies must be linked to the best ways ofproduction, investigating different compatibilizer compounds, plasticizers, and initiatorsof polymerization, improving its physical-chemical properties based on polysaccharides,such as pectin. Therefore, different combinations between chemical compounds will be made, resulting in the best mechanical properties. This project is part of the context of aThematic Project (2017/22401-8) on the recovery of fruit waste. Bioplastics will beevaluated for their physicochemical properties (thickness, opacity, solubility inwater, humidity and grammage). Initially, processes of agitation, acidification, andkiln drying to isolate pectin from orange pomace. With it, thesubsequent analysis can be done of their physicochemical characteristics, in order to obtain the bestresults for its use. The study intends to produce bioplastic based on pectin andcombination with xylan with greater physical resistance, contributing to wide fields of application, starting with their mechanical properties.