Development of PLA Based Nanocellulose Film for Packaging Applications

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad, Prayagraj – 211004, Uttar Pradesh, India

E-mail: mkgupta@mnnit.ac.in, mnnit.manoj@gmail.com

Manuscript Received online 7/13/2020, Accepted 10/5/2020

Owing to environmental concern, demand of nanocellulose of natural fibres has been increasingly increased in packaging applications. In this work, nanocellulose of sugarcane bagasse was isolated through a series of chemical treatments followed by the mechanical grinding process. The films of neat PLA and nanocellulose reinforced PLA were prepared by the solvent casting method with changeable weight percentages (i.e. 1, 2, 3, and 4) of nanocellulose of sugarcane bagasse. Tensile properties, optical properties and morphological analysis of the prepared films were studied. The better performance of tensile properties was exhibited by the film with 2 wt. % of nanocellulose. Transparency values of the films were found to decrease with adding of nanocellulose of sugarcane bagasse.