Development of biodegradable film from chitosan and lemongrass essential oil for food packaging applications

Biodegradable films developed from chitosan and lemongrass essential oil to reduce the use of synthetic polymers in food industry. Abiopolymer chitosan was dissolved in acetic acid to form chitosan solution and lemongrass essential oil was added to that solution to improve antimicrobial properties of film. This solution was casted and dried in polypropylene petri dish and polypropylene sheet and the dried film was peeled off. Solution was prepared in different quantities (50, 70, 100, 130, 150, and 200 ml) and dried on same sized (27cm×19 cm) sheets in order to obtain required thickness of the film. An attempt was made to fabricate films with combination of chitosan and glycerol. Coloured films also developed by adding edible colours into film forming solution. Highest value of thickness was observed for, 100 ml solution in 176 cm² petri dish and for 300 ml solution on 513 cm² polypropylene sheets as 0.05 mm. L*a*b values in determination of colour of films were reasonably lessindicating its transparency. Highest values of mechanical strength obtained as peak load of 73.25 N and deformation at peak load of 12.45 mm for tensile force and average peak load of 20.153 N for puncture force, was for 150 ml solution casted in 513 cm² polypropylene sheet whose thickness is 0.03 mm. Films formed from chitosan and lemongrass essential oil were degraded in 4 months.