Preparation and characterization of tapioca starch – Nicotiana tabacum xylan composite films

Abundance of plastic by non-biodegradable petrochemical based plastic packaging materials has caused an interest in developing biodegradable plastic using waste derived polysaccharides or starch. Therefore, the aim of this study is to diminish the raw material from petroleum in plastic production besides mitigating the pollution due to the non-biodegradable petroleum based plastics. In this study, tapioca starch – nicotiana tabacum xylan composite films were successfully prepared. The influence of nicotiana tabacum-xylan content on the functional properties of tapioca starch film was studied. The result shows that the interaction between nicotiana tabacum-xylan and glycerol occurs between δC-C groups, while the other bonds are unaffected. This indicates that xylan act as filler loads which eventually increase the mechanical and strength of the composite films without affecting the major properties of the bioplastic based. This biocomposite film has high potential to be commercially used as natural biodegradable composite film replacing petrochemical based plastic.