DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION GUAR GUM FILM REINFORCED WITH LITCHI SHELL-DERIVED MICRO-FIBRILLATED CELLULOSE AND HALLOYSITE NANOTUBE FOR ACTIVE ANTIOXIDANT PACKAGING

Abstract

The study aims to the extraction ofmicro-fibrillated cellulose from a novel source of litchi shells, an incomparable, underutilized, and unique waste material and authors investigated the potential of incorporating micro-fibrillated cellulose (MFC) derived from litchi shells and halloysite nanotubes into antioxidant guar gum films for active food packaging applications. The MFC was removed from the collected litchi shell by grinding it up and putting it through bleaching and alkali treatments. Litchi shells render features to extract MFC because they contain a high percentage of cellulose. Studies using XRD, DSC, TGA, FTIR, DLS and SEM have all been used to characterize MFC made from litchi shell powder (LSP). The FTIR spectra of MFC were identical and differed significantly from LSP. The elimination of amorphous components, including lignin and hemicellulose, was confirmed by FTIR findings. Results from X-ray diffraction showed that MFC's crystallinity index significantly increased compared to raw fibers. The FESEM analysis revealed the fibrous structure in the morphological structures. According to DSC tests, micro-fibrillated cellulose and LSP all have different amounts of loosely bound moisture. SEM data support the micro-scale particle size distribution found in DLS research. The films were made using solvent casting, and the concentration of MFC was varied to determine its effect on the films' properties. Our results demonstrated that the guar gum (GG) and MFC show covalent contact and hydrogen bonding, according to FTIR. XRD analysis revealed that MFC addition and HNT significantly uplifted the crystallinity of the films. However, TGA showed that the mixing of both improved the thermogravimetric of the films. SEM analysis depicted dense disorder network that would be responsible lower contact angle in the developed film with increased MFC concentration. The incorporation of MFC and HNT enhanced the films' antioxidant properties from 3.40 to 39.50%, with a higher radical scavenging activity observed at higher concentrations. In conclusion, our study suggests that incorporating MFC and HNT into antioxidant guar gum films can produce a promising active food packaging material with improved antioxidant properties.