Development of active and intelligent packaging materials from low-value biomass for waste reduction

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Food waste and plastic pollution are two global issues. In one aspect, hunger and malnutrition are the number one health risks worldwide. In another, about 40% of manufactured food becomes waste each year. Meanwhile, the non-degradable plastic packaging materials have created significant disposal and pollution issues threatening human health and development. Can novel food packaging help address these issues? Active and intelligent packaging made by natural polymers are innovative materials with improved protection and communication at the same time retaining biodegradability. However, the natural resources like forest cannot be over-developed. Therefore, my research program (long-term objective) aims to utilize Canadian low-value biomass (cellulose, starch, protein, and chitin) obtained from waste and by-products to produce biodegradable functional packaging materials for the reduction of food and plastic wastes. These materials will be designed based on the understanding of molecular structures and their interactions to achieve desired mechanical and barrier properties, and will be used to partially replace the non-degradable plastics. By incorporating active compounds, the new packaging materials will also be able to extend the shelf life and/or indicate the food freshness, so as to decrease food waste. The short-term objectives for the next five years are to develop active and intelligent food packaging from cellulosic materials originating from waste textile. More than 15 million tons of waste textile are generated every year in North America, but less than one fifth are recycled. The disposal of waste textile via landfill or incineration causes environmental problem and also represents a waste of useful resources. I intend to use green' aqueous solvents to dissolve the cellulosic waste textile and convert it into functional films with good mechanical, barrier, and anti-microbial properties (Objective 1). Waste textile is also a potential source of cellulose nanocrystals which will be used to stabilize the hydrophobic sensing compounds in water to develop active visual ink for monitoring food spoilage (Objective 2). Various cellulose derivatives will be obtained from waste textile for the production of electrospun fabrics. These highly porous fabrics will be promising matrices to load sensing compounds for monitoring atmosphere change in package (Objective 3). This proposed research has three anticipated significant outcomes. Firstly, it will generate value-added products (antimicrobial films, active visual ink, and fabric indicator) which have high potential to be applied in commercial products to reduce food and plastic wastes. Secondly, it will further contribute to our fundamental understanding of dissolution of cellulose. Thirdly, it will train a new generation of HQP to address the environmental sustainability issues and technical challenges surrounding the natural polymer based materials.