Producción de un biopolimero a partir de la Mashua Izaño (Tropaeolum tuberosum) para el embalaje de alimentos

Abstract

A problem that has attracted the world's attention is the pollution generated to the environment by waste plastic residues obtained from petroleum; the present research project developed the production of a biopolymer from the starch of the mashua (Tropaeolum tuberosum). In order to obtain the starch, a research design model called 2 k factorial was applied, thus obtaining four treatments, highlighting among them the best one, which was then subjected to various physical-chemical analyses, including swelling power, gelatinization temperature, viscosity, among others, highlighting the value obtained for amylose of 47.41%, thus favoring the values of each analysis carried out. In the biopolymer, the same research design was applied and the casting method was used to obtain four biopolymers with elasticity, transparency, molding and shape, to which physical-chemical, mechanical, biodegradability and fruit packaging tests were carried out, resulting in the best biopolymer corresponding to Treatment2 composed of 2g of starch, 1.5 ml of glycerin, 40 ml of distilled water and 4 ml of acetic acid. For the choice of the best biopolymer treatment, criteria such as solubility, water vapor permeability, water vapor transmission, modulus of elasticity, stress and elongation were taken into account. The addition of carboxymethyl cellulose to the formation of the biopolymer is recommended to obtain better results in the evaluated parameters.