STUDY ON BIODEGRADABLE AND ANTIMICROBIAL PROPERTIES OF BIOWASTE CHITIN-POLYVINYL ALCOHOL BLENDED FILM

Abstract

The film forming ability of chitin (CT) blended with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) were prepared with a series
of nine different ratios of CT:PVA, (10:90, 20:80, 30:70, 40:60, 50:50, 60:40, 70:30, 80:20, 90:10v/v),
using 2% chitin solution and 10% polyvinyl alcohol solution. All prepared blended films have a highly
transparent, smooth surface and pale-yellow color. The prepared blended films were characterized by using
the physical parameters, the physico-mechanical properties, the degree of swelling, and water uptake. As
measured by the swelling and water uptake, the blended films showed a higher degree of hydration, as a
result of varying the weight percent of PVA in the membrane matrix. Comparative characterization of the
prepared blended films included FT IR and TG-DTA analysis. From the FT IR analysis, the characteristic
absorption peaks of CT-PVA blended film clearly showed that the two polymers were well mixed.
According to TG-DTA analysis, the thermal stability of the CT-PVA blended film was found to be slightly
lower. The various types of CT-PVA blended films were also tested for antimicrobial activity using an
agar disc diffusion method. From these results, all of the prepared CT-PVA blended film showed
pronounce antimicrobial activities. Subsequently, the biodegradable nature of the prepared CT-PVA
blended films was studied through the soil burial test. Finally, the prepared CT-PVA blended films can be
used in wound dressing, and also as packaging materials.