Source of Nanocellulose and Its Application in Nanocomposite Packaging Material: A Review

Abstract

Food packaging nowadays is not only essential to preserve food from being contaminated and damaged, but also to comply with science develop and technology advances. New functional packaging materials with degradable features will become a hot spot in the future. By far, plastic is the most common packaging material, but plastic waste has caused immeasurable damage to the environment. Cellulose known as a kind of material with large output, wide range sources, and biodegradable features has gotten more and more attention. Cellulose-based materials possess better degradability compared with traditional packaging materials. With such advantages above, cellulose was gradually introduced into packaging field. It is vital to make packaging materials achieve protection, storage, transportation, market, and other functions in the circulation process. In addition, it satisfied the practical value such as convenient sale and environmental protection, reduced cost and maximized sales profit. This review introduces the cellulose resource and its application in composite packaging materials, antibacterial active packaging materials, and intelligent packaging materials. Subsequently, sustainable packaging and its improvement for packaging applications were introduced. Finally, the future challenges and possible solution were provided for future development of cellulose-based composite packaging materials.

Keywords: biodegradable; cellulose film; food packaging; green packaging; natural polymers.

Figure 1

An overview of cellulose film for food packaging application.

Figure 2

Molecular structure of cellulose.

Figure 3

Grease test image of raw paper, CNC coated paper, and CNC/PEG coated paper.

Figure 4

SEM image of CNC−coated Surface (a) raw paper; (b) one times CNC−coated paper; (c) four times CNC−coated paper; and (d) eight times CNC−coated paper. SEM image of CNF surface and water vapor permeability analysis; (e) raw paper; (f) 2% (w/w) additive amount of CNF; (g) 4% (w/w) additive amount of CNF; (h) 6% (w/w) additive amount of CNF.

Figure 5

UV region of a cellulose-based snail slime film with three series of snail slime addition; (a) 5% (w/v) HPMC E5 polymer with 100% (v/v) snail slime film; (b) 5% (w/v) HPMC E50 polymer with 100% (v/v) snail slime film; (c) 2% (w/v) CMC Na with 100% (v/v) snail slime films and transparent images of three series film; (d) antimicrobial properties of the films. Tests were carried out in different disks. The diameter of each disk is 6 mm, and six strains were tested in different assays; (e) water vapor permeability of the film; (f) O₂ and CO₂ permeabilities in Polyethylene terephthalate coating and CNC coating.

Figure 6

SEM images of surface topography changes with CNC contents (a,a’) 0 wt% cellulose nanocrystal contents; (b,b’) 0.3 wt% cellulose nanocrystal contents; (c,c’) 0.7 wt% cellulose nanocrystal contents; (d,d’) 1.0 wt% cellulose nanocrystal contents.

Figure 7

AFM images of nanocrystal cellulose/EUG composite surface morphologies (a) nanocrystal cellulose; (b) eucommia ulmoides gum; (c) control film; (d) 2% additive amount of nanocrystal cellulose; (e) 4% additive amount of nanocrystal cellulose; (f) 6% additive amount of nanocrystal cellulose; and (g) 8% additive amount of nanocrystal cellulose.

Figure 8

(a) Pictures of the bacteriostasis of cinnamaldehyde (0.78–200 μL/mL) against Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella enteritidis, and Candida albicans; (b) 0.5% cellulose nano whisker, 3% sodium alginate and 5 mM CuO nano particles produced antibacterial polymeric film to test the freshness of pepper (contrast 3 days with 7 days); (c) microflora at different time intervals; (d) the total number of bacteria; (e) the total number of Listeria spp.(contrast 3 days with 7 days); (f) the total number of Salmonella spp.

Figure 9

(a) Synthesis principle of rosin modified cellulose; (b) various materials on the antibacterial activity of E. coli (106 CFU/mL.); (c) various materials on the antibacterial activity of B. subitilis (106 CFU/mL.); (d) inhibition region of rosin modified cellulose nanofiber/polylactic acid/chitosan, rosin modified cellulose nanofiber/polylactic acid, polylactic acid/chitosan, and raw polylactic acid films.

Figure 10

Color reaction of anthocyanins solution from black carrot at different pH conditions (pH 2–11). (a) color reaction of the solvent; (b) color reaction of indicator after immersion in solution; (c) color change of grape skin extraction solution at different pH conditions; (d) UV–Vis spectrum of grape skin extraction solution at different pH conditions; (e) image and UV-Vis spectrum of anthocyanin solutions in different pH conditions.