Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Aug 15;10(8):952.
doi: 10.3390/ma10080952.

Combination of Poly(lactic) Acid and Starch for Biodegradable Food Packaging

Justine Muller  1 , Chelo González-Martínez  2 , Amparo Chiralt  3
Affiliations
Review

Combination of Poly(lactic) Acid and Starch for Biodegradable Food Packaging

Justine Muller et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

The massive use of synthetic plastics, in particular in the food packaging area, has a great environmental impact, and alternative more ecologic materials are being required. Poly(lactic) acid (PLA) and starch have been extensively studied as potential replacements for non-degradable petrochemical polymers on the basis of their availability, adequate food contact properties and competitive cost. Nevertheless, both polymers exhibit some drawbacks for packaging uses and need to be adapted to the food packaging requirements. Starch, in particular, is very water sensitive and its film properties are heavily dependent on the moisture content, exhibiting relatively low mechanical resistance. PLA films are very brittle and offer low resistance to oxygen permeation. Their combination as blend or multilayer films could provide properties that are more adequate for packaging purposes on the basis of their complementary characteristics. The main characteristics of PLA and starch in terms of not only the barrier and mechanical properties of their films but also of their combinations, by using blending or multilayer strategies, have been analyzed, identifying components or processes that favor the polymer compatibility and the good performance of the combined materials. The properties of some blends/combinations have been discussed in comparison with those of pure polymer films.

Keywords: Poly(lactic) acid; barrier properties; blends; films; food packaging; mechanical properties; multilayer; starch.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Market share of food packaging materials. Adapted from [2], with permission from publisher.
Figure 2
Figure 2
PLA cycle in nature. Adapted from Auras et al. [6], with permission from publisher.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Different routes to produce PLA. Adapted from Auras et al. [6], with permission from publisher.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Amylose (a) and amylopectin (b) structures.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Map of tensile properties of neat PLA and starch (a); and of PLA-starch blends without and with compatibilizer (b).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Map of tensile properties of neat PLA and starch (a); and of PLA-starch blends without and with compatibilizer (b).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Plastic Europe—Association of Plastics Manufacturers, Plastic—The Facts 2016. [(accessed on 1 May 2017)]; An Analysis of European Plastics Production, Demand and Waste Data. Available online: http://www.plasticseurope.org/Document/plastics---the-facts-2016-15787.a....
    1. Food Packaging Forum—Food Packaging Health, Food Packaging Materials. [(accessed on 1 May 2017)]; Available online: http://www.foodpackagingforum.org/food-packaging-health/food-packaging-m....
    1. Geueke B. Food Packaging Forum; 2014. [(accessed on 1 May 2017)]. Dossier—Bioplastics as Food Contact Materials. Available online: http://www.foodpackagingforum.org/fpf-2016/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/FP....
    1. Armentano I., Bitinis N., Fortunati E., Mattioli S., Rescignano N., Verdejo R., Kenny J.M. Multifunctional nanostructured PLA materials for packaging and tissue engineering. Prog. Polym. Sci. 2013;38:1720–1747. doi: 10.1016/j.progpolymsci.2013.05.010. - DOI
    1. Xiao L., Wang B., Yang G., Gauthier M. Poly(lactic acid)-Based Biomaterials: Synthesis, Modification and Applications. INTECH Open Access Publisher; Rijeka, Croatia: 2012. pp. 247–282.