Processing-Structure-Property Relationships of Meat and Bone Meal Derived Bioplastics

Sustainability concerns arising from over-use of fossil-derived materials have prompted renewed interest in developing and use of products from renewable biomass. Agricultural materials like soy, starches, cellulose esters and co-products like lignin, soybean meal, feather meal, blood meal and others are being investigated for bioplastic applications. Unlike fossil-based plastics, most of these materials are biodegradable and obtained from renewable precursors, hence sustainable

Fabrication and Analysis of Soy Flour Filled Polyethylene Fibers

Fibers composed of soy flour (soy) and linear low density polyethylene (PE) were produced by melt spinning method. The mixing time of soy flour and PE was adjusted to get better dispersion of soy flour inside the matrix. The inclusion of soy decreased tensile modulus by 35% and tensile strength by 30% of the fibers compared with 950 MPa and 43 MPa, respectively, for PE fibers. Strain to failure for soy-PE fibers was 292% where PE fibers have strain to failure at 513%. Tensile properties of soy-PE fibers are comparable to those of pure PE. Even washing did not deteriorated the tensile properties, significantly. Microstructural analysis showed that fibers have a well morphology without phase distinction. Soy was dispersed well inside PE matrix with little agglomeration

Prediction of Mold Spoilage for Soy/Polyethylene Composite Fibers

Mold spoilage was determined over 109 days on soy/PE fibers held under controlled temperatures (T) ranging from 10°C to 40°C and water activities (aw) from 0.11 to 0.98. Water activities were created in sealed containers using saturated salt solutions and placed in temperature-controlled incubators. Soy/PE fibers that were held at 0.823 aw or higher exhibited mold growth at all temperatures. As postulated, increased water activity (greater than 0.89) and temperature (higher than 25°C) accelerated mold growth on soy/PE fibers. A slower mold growth was observed on soy/PE fibers that were held at 0.87 aw and 10°C. A Weibull model was employed to fit the observed logarithmic values of T, aw, and an interaction term log⁡T×log⁡aw and was chosen as the final model as it gave the best fit to the raw mold growth data. These growth models predict the expected mold-free storage period of soy/PE fibers when exposed to various environmental temperatures and humidities

Melt spinning of soy flour-based fibers

OBJECTIVE: This study is directed towards developing a melt-process for converting soy flour-based biomaterials into nonfood, value-added products such as fibers, nonwovens, and films. In this paper, we discuss the blending of soy flour with polyethylene (PE), fiber processing via melt route, and assessment of fiber properties