Vigneswari Sevakumaran, Idris Mohammad Amir Huzer Mohammad, Syairah Anis Siti Nor, Ramakrishna Seeram, Amirul Abdullah Al-Ashraf
Institute of Climate Adaptation and Microbial Biotechnology, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Terengganu, Malaysia.
Ocular Infections and Antimicrobials Research Group, Singapore Eye Research Institute, The Academia, 20 College Road, Discovery Tower, 169856 Singapore, Singapore.
Food Technol Biotechnol. 2025 Jun;63(2):168-176. doi: 10.17113/ftb.63.02.25.8949.
Biodegradable packaging is gaining immense research interest as conventional non-biodegradable food packaging has led to significant environmental pollution. In response to this, this study aims to develop biodegradable films based on polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) as potential food packaging material.
Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) homopolymer, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) [P(3HB)] and copolymer poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) [P(3HB-co-3HV)], known microbial biodegradable biopolymer plastics, were layered in different mass ratios using the dispersion coating technique over the brown kraft paper as a food packaging material. PHA are known to be safe, non-cytotoxic and non-genotoxic, with a remarkable ability to biodegrade in the environment. The P(3HB) and P(3HB-co-3HV) were synthesised from carbon sources of palm olein and a combination of palm olein with 1-pentanol, respectively, using USMAA2-4, a transformant bacterial strain with acquired lipase genes.
Contact angle analysis indicated that brown kraft paper coated with P(3HB-co-3HV) had a higher contact angle than uncoated brown kraft paper and paper coated with P(3HB). The biodegradation analysis of brown kraft paper coated with P(3HB) showed that it degraded 100 % within 9 days compared to all samples of brown kraft paper coated with P(3HB-co-3HV), which were completely degraded by day 12.
The results show that brown kraft paper coated with P(3HB-co-3HV) was more hydrophobic than uncoated and P(3HB)-coated brown kraft paper. This study encourages further investigations of brown kraft paper coated with PHA to develop biodegradable food packaging, paving the way for a sustainable alternative to non-biodegradable packaging material.
由于传统的不可生物降解食品包装已导致严重的环境污染，可生物降解包装正引起广泛的研究兴趣。针对此，本研究旨在开发基于聚羟基脂肪酸酯（PHA）的可生物降解薄膜作为潜在的食品包装材料。
聚羟基脂肪酸酯（PHA）均聚物、聚（3-羟基丁酸酯）[P(3HB)]和共聚物聚（3-羟基丁酸酯-co-3-羟基戊酸酯）[P(3HB-co-3HV)]，这两种已知的微生物可生物降解生物聚合物塑料，采用分散涂布技术以不同质量比涂覆在作为食品包装材料的棕色牛皮纸上。已知PHA是安全的，无细胞毒性和基因毒性，在环境中具有显著的生物降解能力。P(3HB)和P(3HB-co-3HV)分别由棕榈油的碳源以及棕榈油与1-戊醇的混合物，使用具有获得的脂肪酶基因的转化菌株USMAA2-4合成。
接触角分析表明，涂有P(3HB-co-3HV)的棕色牛皮纸比未涂覆的棕色牛皮纸和涂有P(3HB)的纸具有更高的接触角。对涂有P(3HB)的棕色牛皮纸的生物降解分析表明，与所有涂有P(3HB-co-3HV)的棕色牛皮纸样品相比，它在9天内降解了100%，而涂有P(3HB-co-3HV)的样品在第12天完全降解。
结果表明，涂有P(3HB-co-3HV)的棕色牛皮纸比未涂覆和涂有P(3HB)的棕色牛皮纸更疏水。本研究鼓励进一步研究涂有PHA的棕色牛皮纸以开发可生物降解的食品包装，为不可生物降解包装材料的可持续替代物铺平道路。
