Bioconversion of Food Waste into Bioplastics
Audirene Amorim Santana, Carlos Alberto Rios Brito Júnior,
Darlan Ferreira da Silva, Gislayne Santana Santos Jacinto,
Wolia Costa Gomes, and Glauber Cruz
Abstract
Food waste is defined as a significant loss in natural
resources, such as losses in land, water, energy, and labor.
World government agencies have declared that Brazil
significantly contributes to food waste. The main causes
of food waste are a lack of qualification and preparation
for the harvest, inadequate producer knowledge, improper
transport and storage conditions, climate changes,
improperly installed supply centers, and consumer’s
waste. Food waste can be minimized by valorization of
these residues through value-added products. For example, the waste of these resources can be reduced through
their bioconversion into bioplastics. Thus, several processes used to transform food waste, e.g., soybeans
residues, rice and cassava husks (starch), natural fibers
(cellulose), and shrimp husks (chitin/chitosan) into
biodegradable plastics are presented, which focus on
various technologies, different compositions, physicochemical and biological properties, and thermal and
mechanical behaviors from the biofilms produced, and
their potential applications. The use of these feedstocks
for bioplastic generation is currently a challenge for food
waste valorization by these companies, and it can provide
modern society with an ecofriendly, sustainable, and
renewable biomaterial.
Keywords
Applications Á Composition Á Feedstocks Á Packaging Á
Properties Á Structures
1 Introduction
Plastic is the result of an organic synthesis process that
utilizes fossil sources. Due to its particular properties, it is
the most consumed material in the world, with over 300
million metric tons of plastics produced annually worldwide
(Walker and Rothman 2020; Singh and Sharma 2016).
However, its prolonged degradation rate is of great environmental concern. In addition, petrochemical resources are
limited, and oil exploration and production have harmful
impacts on air, soil, surface water, groundwater, and several
ecosystems (Tsang et al. 2019).
An alternative sustainable to using petrochemicals for
synthetic polymers is bioplastics production (Rieger et al.
2012). Bioplastics are a generalized term for polymeric
materials with a biomass source (Rudin and Choi 2013).
However, it is not simply a designation for biodegradable
materials or compostable plastics. Thus, for these materials
certain properties can be expected, such as durability, conformability, flexibility, transparency, mechanical resistance,
and acting as a gas barrier (Araújo et al. 2018). Consequently, plastic derivatives obtained from biomass have
gained greater interest in the development of biomaterials for
food packaging and biomedical products (Rocha et al. 2020).
Manufactured bioplastics are not yet competitive with
conventional plastics, due to the higher cost of bioplastic
synthesis. In addition, their precarious mechanical properties
are brittle after thermoforming, such as with starch-based
A. A. Santana
Department of Chemical Engineering, Federal University of
Maranhão, São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil
C. A. R. B. Júnior
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Federal University of
Maranhão, São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil
D. F. da Silva Á G. S. S. Jacinto Á W. C. Gomes
Master Science in Environmental, Environmental Sciences
Laboratory, Ceuma University, São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil
G. Cruz (&)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Federal University of
Maranhão, São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil
e-mail: cruz.glauber@ufma.br
Post-Graduate Program in Mechanical Engineering, Department of
Mechanics and Materials, Science and Technology of Maranhão,
Federal Institute of Education, São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Inamuddin and A. Khan (eds.), Sustainable Bioconversion of Waste to Value Added Products, Advances in Science,
Technology & Innovation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61837-7_17
281
Audirene Amorim Santana, Carlos Alberto Rios Brito Júnior,
Darlan Ferreira da Silva, Gislayne Santana Santos Jacinto,
Wolia Costa Gomes, and Glauber Cruz
Abstract
Food waste is defined as a significant loss in natural
resources, such as losses in land, water, energy, and labor.
World government agencies have declared that Brazil
significantly contributes to food waste. The main causes
of food waste are a lack of qualification and preparation
for the harvest, inadequate producer knowledge, improper
transport and storage conditions, climate changes,
improperly installed supply centers, and consumer’s
waste. Food waste can be minimized by valorization of
these residues through value-added products. For example, the waste of these resources can be reduced through
their bioconversion into bioplastics. Thus, several processes used to transform food waste, e.g., soybeans
residues, rice and cassava husks (starch), natural fibers
(cellulose), and shrimp husks (chitin/chitosan) into
biodegradable plastics are presented, which focus on
various technologies, different compositions, physicochemical and biological properties, and thermal and
mechanical behaviors from the biofilms produced, and
their potential applications. The use of these feedstocks
for bioplastic generation is currently a challenge for food
waste valorization by these companies, and it can provide
modern society with an ecofriendly, sustainable, and
renewable biomaterial.
Keywords
Applications Á Composition Á Feedstocks Á Packaging Á
Properties Á Structures
1 Introduction
Plastic is the result of an organic synthesis process that
utilizes fossil sources. Due to its particular properties, it is
the most consumed material in the world, with over 300
million metric tons of plastics produced annually worldwide
(Walker and Rothman 2020; Singh and Sharma 2016).
However, its prolonged degradation rate is of great environmental concern. In addition, petrochemical resources are
limited, and oil exploration and production have harmful
impacts on air, soil, surface water, groundwater, and several
ecosystems (Tsang et al. 2019).
An alternative sustainable to using petrochemicals for
synthetic polymers is bioplastics production (Rieger et al.
2012). Bioplastics are a generalized term for polymeric
materials with a biomass source (Rudin and Choi 2013).
However, it is not simply a designation for biodegradable
materials or compostable plastics. Thus, for these materials
certain properties can be expected, such as durability, conformability, flexibility, transparency, mechanical resistance,
and acting as a gas barrier (Araújo et al. 2018). Consequently, plastic derivatives obtained from biomass have
gained greater interest in the development of biomaterials for
food packaging and biomedical products (Rocha et al. 2020).
Manufactured bioplastics are not yet competitive with
conventional plastics, due to the higher cost of bioplastic
synthesis. In addition, their precarious mechanical properties
are brittle after thermoforming, such as with starch-based
A. A. Santana
Department of Chemical Engineering, Federal University of
Maranhão, São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil
C. A. R. B. Júnior
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Federal University of
Maranhão, São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil
D. F. da Silva Á G. S. S. Jacinto Á W. C. Gomes
Master Science in Environmental, Environmental Sciences
Laboratory, Ceuma University, São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil
G. Cruz (&)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Federal University of
Maranhão, São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil
e-mail: cruz.glauber@ufma.br
Post-Graduate Program in Mechanical Engineering, Department of
Mechanics and Materials, Science and Technology of Maranhão,
Federal Institute of Education, São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Inamuddin and A. Khan (eds.), Sustainable Bioconversion of Waste to Value Added Products, Advances in Science,
Technology & Innovation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61837-7_17
281