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This research is a part of the grant PID2023-152869OB-C22, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the grant TED2021-131762A-I00, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union "NextGenerationEU"/PRTR. Authors also thank Generalitat Valenciana-GVA for funding this research through the grant numbers CIAICO/2023/253 and CIGE/2023/46. Funded with Aid for First Research Projects (PAID-06-22) , Vice-rectorate for Research of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV) . J. G.-C. wants to thank FPU20/01732 grant funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ESF Investing in your future.

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Innovative development and characterization of thermoplastic zein-based biopolymers for food packaging via injection molding

Publicat a:Food Hydrocolloids. 163 111134- - 2025-06-01 163(), DOI: 10.1016/j.foodhyd.2025.111134

Autors: Plasencia, Lluis; Arrieta, Marina P; Lazaro-Hdez, Carlos; Gomez-Caturla, Jaume; Quiles-Carrillo, Luis

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This study focuses on the development of biodegradable polymers using zein (ZEI) plasticized with glycerol (GLY) and urea (UREA), with the goal of replacing conventional plastics in food packaging. The optimized combination of glycerol and urea in zein formulations significantly enhances mechanical properties: ZEI-15GLY10UREA formulation achieves a maximum tensile strength of 21.3 MPa. Elongation at break is higher in blends with lower urea content, reaching 9.1% in ZEI-20GLY-5UREA. Conversely, formulations with higher urea content exhibit reduced elongation and toughness, evident in the decrease to 1.8 kJ/m2 of impact energy in ZEI-25UREA. Samples show Shore D hardness values up to 82.0. Morphological characterization confirms consistent behavior with mechanical properties, indicating that the glycerol and urea combination promotes a more ductile structure. Incorporation of these plasticizers lowers the glass transition temperature of the compounds from 53.8 degrees C in ZEI25GLY to between 48 degrees C and 49 degrees C in formulations with 5% and 10% urea. All formulations exhibit biodegradation behaviour, with all of them achieving complete degradation in the final weeks. In all cases, there is a clear trend of mass loss during the first 6 weeks, with all formulations losing more than 80% of their initial mass.

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