Morphological and Tensile Behaviors of Carboxymethyl Cellulose- Pectin Films Reinforced with Cassava Lignin Fibre for Food Packaging

The increasing demand for sustainable materials has driven research to renewable, easily accessible and utilization of agricultural waste. Carboxyl methylcellulosepectin nanocomposites reinforced with cassava lignin through solution casting technique were fabricated for use in food packaging. The effects of the concentration of cassava lignin, pectin, and carboxyl methylcellulose on the tensile strength and elongation of produced films were investigated and optimized using central composite design. The morphological property was analyzed using scanning electron microscope. The result showed that addition of cassava lignin improved the tensile strength of the carboxyl methylcellulose-pectin film by 45.51% when compared with unreinforced carboxyl methylcellulose-pectin film. This indicates homogenous dispersion and distribution of the particles, as well as favorable interfacial interaction between the particles and matrix as shown in the microstructural images. Lignin fibre decreased the elongation at break of the produced films. The 1.2 wt. % of cassava lignin reinforcements show that elongation at break (EB) decreased from 70.3% to 55.4%. This could be as a result of the stiffness introduced by cassava lignin nanofiller through the creation of three-dimensional network structure in the nanocomposite film.