Nanocomposites for Packaging Applications: Synthesis, Characterization, Thermal and Microbial Degradation of Its Residues for Plant Growth

Environmental pollution, caused by traditional plastic packaging, has recently become more severe due to non-biodegradable nature of petroleum-based plastics. The present research studies the preparation of polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH)/Starch (ST)/Humic Acid (HA) contained sodium montmorillonite clay (MMT) as a plastic packaging method. It also investigates biodegradability of films in terms of microbial and thermal degradation and their residual effect on plant growth. For doing so, the research utilizes Broido Technique to obtain the activation energy of the films’ thermal degradation. The influence of HA/MMT ratio on the surface morphology and physical characteristics has also been assessed, using the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TA). After 12 days of microbial degradation, the total remaining solids are 32.12 wt% (PVOH/ST/HA (3%)/MMT (1%)); 48.17 wt% (PVOH/ST/HA (3%)/MMT (3%)), and 58.82 wt% (PVOH/ST/HA (1%)/MMT (3%)). The research shows that the highest activation energy for PVOH/ST/HA (3%)/MMT (3%) is 75 kJ/mol.