Eco-friendly bioplastic from Pontederia crassipes: cellulose and carboxymethyl cellulose biopolymers for sustainable, biodegradable bioplastic film
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71336/jabs.1423Keywords:
Biopolymer, Carboxy methyl cellulose, Cellulose bioplastic, Pontederia crassipesAbstract
Expanded usage of polyethylene film in different industries lead to accumulation of plastics in the environment, which cause pollution and toxicity to life forms. It can be replaced by the bioplastics which are biodegradable, biocompatible, eco-friendly, and can be obtained from renewable sources at low cost such as plant weeds. The biopolymer, cellulose can be extracted from aquatic weeds since they are abundantly available from aquatic system, easy and safe to handle, and biocompatible. Pontederia crassipes an aquatic floating weed, widely dispersed in surface of polluted rivers and ponds. Directed to remove from water bodies by EPA due to its negative impacts on aquatic animal life and the collected biomass as such cannot be used as a feed due to the presence of polyphenols and nitrates. In the current study, about 30% of cellulose was extracted by delignification and bleaching of weed biomass collected from a river. Extracted cellulose was converted into another form of derived polymer, known as carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC) by treating with monochloro acetic acid. Biodegradable bioplastic was prepared using gelatin as gelling agent and glycerol as plasticizer by varying concentrations. Properties of the extracted cellulose, CMC, and bioplastic from cellulose and CMC, were analyzed by measuring film thickness, tensile strength, elongation point, FTIR, and antioxidant assay. About 25.7 µm thickness cellulose biofilm exhibited higher tensile strength of 55.3 MPa at dry, 45.5 MPa at wet condition and 24 µg/ml of antioxidant activity was observed. This research highlights the potential of utilizing water hyacinth, a typically problematic weed, to develop sustainable biopolymers that address the growing environmental concerns associated with conventional plastic waste. Thus, this research work provides a potential biological safe approach to prepare bioplastic film for commercial applications. While, gelatin is costly, a suitable, cheap alternative need to be identified to reduce the cost of production of the bioplastic film. However, further efforts are required to enhance the scalability of the product.
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