[4-1600-A] Postharvest/Food Technology and Process Engineering (3)

[4-1600-A-02] Biodegradable Food Packaging from Cavendish Banana (Musa acuminata) Peduncle Fiber

Kittaporn Ngiwngam¹, Nor Jihan Jantan², *Wirongrong Tongdeesoontorn^1,3 (1. School of Agro-Industry, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100 (Thailand), 2. School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor 42300 (Malaysia), 3. Research Group of Innovative Food Packaging and Biomaterials, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, 57100 (Thailand))

Keywords:Cavendish banana, Banana peduncle, Fiber, Biodegradable food packaging, Waste utilization

This study deals with the determination of chemical composition and the study of the pulping potentialities of banana peduncle waste in Chiang Rai, Thailand to produce biodegradable food packaging. Before the pulping process, chemical composition of banana fiber (BF) was identified. The result showed that holocellulose content in banana peduncle was 54.6±4.42 % (w/w) dried sample then lignin content was 14.42±0.39% dried sample. The banana fiber consisted of alpha-, beta-, and gamma-cellulose contents 59.96±0.03%, 2.89±1.05%, 37.35±1.3% (w/w) of holocellulose, respectively. After that, the molded pulp tray from banana peduncle fiber was formed by using the hydraulic hot-pressing machine at 140 °C, 250 psi for 7 minutes. Dried fiber around 15 g was used for the tray forming and the properties of the tray were determined. For color measurement, lightness (L*) of pulps were decreased from 46.47 to 38.18 by increasing NaOH concentration. Grammage of molded pulp trays from 10, 15, and 20% NaOH were 632.40±25.37, 705.11±30.58, and 689.13±79.86 g/m², respectively. Tensile index and compression index of molded pulp tray at 10% NaOH showed the highest value as 22.12±1.23 MPa.m²/g and 25.03±1.04 MPa.m²/g. The tray at 20% NaOH gave the highest value of thickness swelling at 37.14±2.67%. The results indicated that the BF molded pulp tray from pulping process with 10% NaOH has good properties as high tensile index, compression index, MOR, and water wetting time which can be used as biodegradable food packaging.