Development of Biofilms from Fruit and Vegetable Waste and Evaluation of its Mechanical and Physical Properties

Abstract

This research entails the synthesis of bioplastics films out of fruit and vegetable waste (FVW)and testingtheir mechanical and physical properties. Orange peel (OP), apple pomace (AP), potato peels (PP), andtomato pomace (TP) were the FVWs used in this study. The films were developed using the casting method.The FVW powder content in the film-forming solution (FFS) ranged between 2%, 4%, and 6%. Whereasglycerol was 2%, 1.5%, 1%, and 0.5% while pectin remains constant at 4%.The treatments T0 to T12 wereapplied to each FVW with varying glycerol percentages. A high glycerol percentage resulted in a fragilefilm. From an experimental study, it was revealed that glycerol reduces tensile strength and young’s modulus while increasing elongation at break, moisture content, and thickness. The potato peel powder (PPP) filmcontaining 0.5% glycerol was identified as the most promising film, characterized by a tensile strength of8.16 MPa, young’s modulus of 9.96 MPa, and moisture content of 9.73%. Orange peel powder (OPP) filmhas the maximum elongation at break; measuring 16.35%. The thickness of 108.15μ was the maximum forthe PPP film containing 2% glycerol. Based on the experimental study the prepared biofilms open up thepossibilities for replacing the synthetic food packaging.