Palm Oil Deodorizer Distillate as Toughening agent in Poly(lactide) Packaging Films
Résumé
Polylactide (PLA) is the most used biodegradable and biobased food packaging polymer for rigid containers and films. However, its low ductility is a hurdle for increasing applications in flexible food packaging. A solution is the use of additives. Palm oil deodorizer distillate (PODC) revealed to be an excellent additive promoting PLA ductility. PODC is a by-product of the vegetable oil refinery, which is available in stable quality at sufficient amount. Amorphous PLA/PODC blends had an elongation at break around 130 % and semicristallin blends still around 55 % compared to initially 5 % of neat PLA. In the same time the PLA rigidity and high glass transition temperatures were kept. PODC was also a very efficient processing aid, allowing for film blow extrusion. The blends were stable in properties during 6 months without exudation. Therefore the deodorizer distillate PODC is a very interesting alternative to common plasticizers for the production of flexible PLA packaging films