Abstract
Food packaging is one of the leading sectors for the end use of plastics. Bioplastic is produced from natural renewable resources such as crops, wood pulp, and herbaceous fibers. This article summarizes the rational design of bioplastics from natural resources for food packaging. The bioplastic properties considered include thermal properties, mechanical performance, oxygen/moisture resistance, and biodegradability. Bioplastic degradability and technologies for handling bioplastic waste are discussed. Various aspects of the sustainability of bioplastics (e.g., environmental profile, techno-economic analysis, and societal impact) are investigated. The main challenges of bioplastic application, such as low fracture strain and inferior barrier properties, are discussed. Mitigation approaches to overcome the mechanical properties of bioplastics, such as adding plasticizers, are also discussed. Bioplastic can have properties comparable with fossil-based plastics. Bioplastic can be an alternative to conventional plastic in most applications of food packaging, which can reduce the carbon footprint and environmental impact because of its biodegradability.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 97-127 |
| Number of pages | 31 |
| Journal | Matter |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 4 2023 |
Funding
We acknowledge support from the Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Manufacturing Office, and Bioenergy Technologies Office. X.Y. and Z.W. are supported by the DOE, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division, Catalysis Science Program. We thank Zhiqun Gong, Zhiguo Liu, and Yihan Zhang for help with the collection of relevant literature and discussions. We also thank Dr. Qiang Li for discussions and some help. This manuscript was authored in part by UT-Battelle, LLC under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the DOE. The US government retains, and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains, a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. The DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). X.Z. Y.W. X.C. X.Y. W.L. S.Z. X.M. Z.-M.Z. T.D. A. Anderson, A. Aiyedun, and Y.L. writing – original draft and writing – review & editing; E.W. and S.O. writing – review & editing and funding acquisition; Z.W. V.K. and A.R. writing – review & editing; H.Z. conceptualization, writing – review & editing, and funding acquisition. The authors declare no competing interests. We acknowledge support from the Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Manufacturing Office, and Bioenergy Technologies Office . X.Y. and Z.W. are supported by the DOE , Office of Science , Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division, Catalysis Science Program . We thank Zhiqun Gong, Zhiguo Liu, and Yihan Zhang for help with the collection of relevant literature and discussions. We also thank Dr. Qiang Li for discussions and some help. This manuscript was authored in part by UT-Battelle, LLC under contract DE- AC05-00OR22725 with the DOE. The US government retains, and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains, a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. The DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ).
Keywords
- biodegradability
- bioplastic
- food packaging
- natural resource
- sustainability
- waste recycling
