Eco-Friendly Composites Based on Bitter Tea Oil Meal and Polylactic Acid

Bitter tea oil meal (BTOM) is the main waste from the production of bitter tea oil which is squeezed from bitter tea seeds. The purpose of this study is to reuse the BTOM as an additive of the polylactic acid (PLA) to prepare eco-friendly composites. The effects of the addition of BTOM and maleic anhydride grafted polybutylene succinate (MAPBS) on the properties of PLA were investigated. The addition of MAPBS is mainly to increase the toughness of the PLA, and to increase the compatibility between BTOM and PLA. The experimental results show that the compatibility of PLA and BTOM and impact resistance of the composites can be improved by addition of MAPBS. The composite with 5% BTOM and 8% MAPBS exhibited the best tensile strength. In addition, the composite with 5% BTOM and 5% MAPBS has the best impact strength. It was found that the addition of BTOM and MAPBS can promote the crystallization of PLA. Moreover, the addition of BTOM not only can reduce the usage of PLA and the cost of the materials, but also reuse and reduce the waste from food industry.