Table Of ContentStarch-Based Materials in Food
Packaging
Starch-Based Materials
in Food Packaging
Processing, Characterization and Applications
Edited by
Marcelo A. Villar
Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química, PLAPIQUI (UNS-CONICET),
Buenos Aires, Argentina; Departamento de Ingeniería Química,
Universidad Nacional del Sur, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Silvia E. Barbosa
Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química, PLAPIQUI (UNS-CONICET),
Buenos Aires, Argentina; Departamento de Ingeniería Química,
Universidad Nacional del Sur, Buenos Aires, Argentina
M. Alejandra García
Centro de Investigación en Criotecnología de Alimentos, CIDCA
(UNLP-CONICET), Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina
Luciana A. Castillo
Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química, PLAPIQUI (UNS-CONICET),
Buenos Aires, Argentina; Departamento de Ingeniería Química,
Universidad Nacional del Sur, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Olivia V. López
Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química, PLAPIQUI (UNS-CONICET),
Buenos Aires, Argentina
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List of Contributors
Norma D’ Accorso Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y
Naturales (FCEyN), Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Edith Agama-Acevedo Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Yautepec, México
M. Alejandra García Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de
Alimentos (UNLP-CONICET), La Plata, Argentina
Vera A. Alvarez Thermoplastic Composite Materials Group (CoMP), Reasearch
Institute of Materials Science and Technology (INTEMA), National Scientific and
Technical Research Council (CONICET), National University of Mar del Plata
(UNMdP), Mar del Plata, Argentina
Silvia E. Barbosa Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química, PLAPIQUI (UNS-CONICET),
Buenos Aires, Argentina; Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Universidad
Nacional del Sur, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Luis A. Bello Perez Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Yautepec, México
Jeannine Bonilla Universidade de São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, Brazil
Luciana A. Castillo Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química, PLAPIQUI
(UNS-CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Departamento de Ingeniería Química,
Universidad Nacional del Sur, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Amparo Chiralt Universitat Politécnica de Valencia (UPV), Valencia, Spain
Flávia Debiagi State University of Londrina, Londrina, PR, Brazil
Nancy L. Garcia Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y
Naturales (FCEyN), Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Silvia Goyanes Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y
Naturales (FCEyN), Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
María P. Guarás Thermoplastic Composite Materials Group (CoMP), Reasearch
Institute of Materials Science and Technology (INTEMA), National Scientific and
Technical Research Council (CONICET), National University of Mar del Plata
(UNMdP), Mar del Plata, Argentina
Norziah M. Hani Universiti Sains Malaysia, George Town, Malaysia
Olivia V. López Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química, PLAPIQUI (UNS-CONICET),
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Leandro N. Ludueña Thermoplastic Composite Materials Group (CoMP), Reasearch
Institute of Materials Science and Technology (INTEMA), National Scientific and
Technical Research Council (CONICET), National University of Mar del Plata
(UNMdP), Mar del Plata, Argentina
Suzana Mali State University of Londrina, Londrina, PR, Brazil
xi
xii List of Contributors
Léa Rita P.F. Mello State University of Londrina, Londrina, PR, Brazil
Mario D. Ninago Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química, PLAPIQUI (UNS-CONICET),
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Rodrigo Ortega-Toro Universitat Politécnica de Valencia (UPV), Valencia, Spain
Laura Ribba Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales
(FCEyN), Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Hayati Samsudin Universiti Sains Malaysia, George Town, Malaysia
Carmen C. Tadini University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Pau Talens Universitat Politécnica de Valencia (UPV), Valencia, Spain
Florencia Versino Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de
Alimentos (UNLP-CONICET), La Plata, Argentina
Marcelo A. Villar Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química, PLAPIQUI (UNS-CONICET),
Buenos Aires, Argentina; Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Universidad
Nacional del Sur, Buenos Aires, Argentina
David K. Wang The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Fengwei Xie The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Binjia Zhang Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China
Preface
Development of materials based on biodegradable polymers from renewable
sources has received considerable attention from academic and industrial sec-
tors. Among other biopolymers, starch is a good candidate for this purpose
mainly due to its biodegradable character, low cost, worldwide availability, and
functionality. Thus the use of this polysaccharide in the packaging industry is
an interesting and promissory option for the designing of biomaterials for spe-
cific applications. Accordingly main topics discussed in this book are related
to the most recent advances in the development of biomaterials from different
starches, applying several technologies at laboratory and semiindustrial scales.
Besides the effect of formulations and processing conditions on structural and
final properties of starch-based materials are included. Finally potential applica-
tions of starch materials in diverse fields, especially in food packaging, are also
presented.
The main purpose of this book is to provide the state of the art of the devel-
opment of biomaterials based on different starches, including processing and
characterization, as well as, evaluation of their possible applications. Even
though, in the current literature several books related to this topic are available,
this book offers complementary information mainly related to the possibility
of obtaining materials at large scale by adapting the existing technology for
synthetic polymers, which implies a low-cost investment by the industrial sec-
tor. Besides current commercial applications of starch materials are reported, as
well as, new possibilities of uses are also evaluated as a function of their final
properties.
An experimental approach based on the processing and characterization of
biopolymers derived from different starches, is mainly presented. It includes
fundamental knowledge and practical applications, and it also covers valuable
experimental case studies. This book offers a comprehensive overview concern-
ing to biodegradable polymers, covering the new trends on their applications.
Concerning to the style of the book, it is proposed for academics, researchers,
and all those involved in the manufacture and use of biodegradable materials
based on thermoplastic starch. Moreover, it intended to be a reliable reference
source for those wanting to learn more about this important class of polymeric
materials. World experts from Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Argentine, China,
Malaysia, and Spain have written different book chapters. This book is focused
xiii
xiv Preface
toward an ecological proposal to partially replace synthetic polymers arising
from nonrenewable sources for specific applications. Thus the use of starch as
feedstock to develop biodegradable materials is a good and promissory alterna-
tive. With the contributions and collaboration of experts in the development and
study of starch-based materials, this book pretends to be an up-to-date showing
the versatility of this polysaccharide and its potential use, especially for food
packaging.
Chapter 1
Starch
Luis A. Bello Perez and Edith Agama-Acevedo
Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Yautepec, México
1.1 GENERAL ASPECTS
Starch is considered the main storage carbohydrate of green plants and it is
produced in two organelles. In the photosynthesis process, during light periods,
starch is produced in the chloroplasts and is used as energy source by the plant
to achieve the metabolic process. Starch that is not used in this via is accumu-
lated in the chloroplasts for its later usage during the dark periods, named as
transitory starch. Additionally, this polysaccharide is stored in other organelles
called amyloplasts for long time. This stored starch can be used during the seeds
sprouting process. On the other hand, it can be isolated and used as raw mate-
rial in different applications, for example, foods and pharmaceutical products,
plastics, fermentation, adhesives, paints, paperboard, etc. Commercial starches
are obtained mainly from maize, potato, wheat, rice, and cassava (Fig. 1.1).
The use of starch in those products is due to its physicochemical and functional
properties such as water retention, viscosity, gel formation, etc. However, the
properties native starches are limited and hence they are modified by chemical,
physical, or enzymatic methods to improve their functionality.
Many years ago, it was suggested that both the shape and size of starch gran-
ules are responsible for their physicochemical and functional characteristics.
Also, granule size distribution is related to starch functionality. In addition, the
amylose/amylopectin ratio and the chain-length distribution of amylopectin are
suggested as important characteristics to explain starch physicochemical and
functional features. More recently, starch structure, which is the arrangement of
its components in the granules of both native and modified derivatives, is also
reported as a factor of its functionality.
Diverse microscopy techniques have been reported to analyze the shape and
surface of starch granules. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic
force microscopy (AFM) give information about the appearance of granules
surfaces. Thus, small protrusions of 10–50 nm were observed on granules sur-
face of native wheat starch by AFM (Baldwin, Adler, Davies, & Melia, 1995).
Starch-Based Materials in Food Packaging. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809439-6.00001-7
© 2017Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1
2 Starch-Based Materials in Food Packaging
FIGURE 1.1 Isolation of starch from diverse botanical sources.
Additionally, large spherical protrusions (200–500 nm) were detected for native
potato granules. Besides, SEM is a useful technique to examine their internal
structures. In this sense, the presence of pores and channels in cereal starches
and in granules hydrolyzed by α-amylase was evidenced. On the other hand, the
internal arrangement of starch components in concentric rings was evidenced by
transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (Fig. 1.2). In addition, this technique
has been employed to obtain information about the starch structure modifica-
tions during its hydrolysis. Thus, the structure of starch nanocrystals produced
by acid hydrolysis has been revealed by TEM (Wang, Yu, & Yu, 2008).
Starch is classified as a homo-polysaccharide and its basic unit is glucose.
It is considered as a biopolymer mainly due to its natural origin, constituted by
two main components: amylose and amylopectin. Amylose is an essential lineal
polymer where glucose units are joined by α-(1–4) bonds, with few branch-
ing points, conforming the amorphous regions of the starch granules. On the
other hand, amylopectin is the branched component where glucose units are
also joined by α-(1–4) bonds in the lineal sections, and by α-(1–6) bonds in the
branching points. Amylopectin is responsible of the starch crystalline lamella,
although their branching points are part of the amorphous one. The presence of
amorphous and crystalline regions in starch granules confers to this biopolymer
a semicrystalline entity. In the “cluster” model, it is suggested that amylose is
intermixed with amylopectin in the branching points (Pérez & Bertoft, 2010).
Also, gelatinization studies suggest that amylose is concentrated toward the
periphery of the granules (Jane, 2007). However, amylose location as well as the
FIGURE 1.2 Projection of starch granule, figure modified of O’neill C.O & Field R.A (2015).
