A Versatile Bioplastic Film Fabricated From Cocos Nucifera (Coconut Coir) In Guyana
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29284/s6ygtk10Keywords:
Bioplastics, coconut coir, tensile strengthAbstract
The coconut plant is an abundant crop stretching across all regions of Guyana in South America. The coconut coir is a cellulose-rich component of the coconut that can be converted into a versatile, biodegradable plastic film with thermomechanical properties comparable to single-use plastics on the world market. The hemicellulose and lignin content of the coconut coir was reduced by 56.5% and 71.7% respectively. An alkali/bleaching treatment of 8% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and 8% sodium chlorite (NaClO2) solutions was found to be best. The pretreated coir produced uniform bioplastic films within 6-9 days after dissolution in trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). A 100% conversion of raw coir fibers into plastic film was achieved, with an ultimate tensile strength of 9.12 MPa. This bioplastic film is also thermally stable, starting to degrade at around 250 °C, similar to the degradation temperature of 97% cellulose-rich filter paper.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
