Environmentally green film blends: polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/cellulose acetate (CA)/potato peel starch as an alternative to petroleum plastics

In recent decades, synthetic plastics have posed a significant environmental threat due to their non-biodegradability. Research is being carried out to find alternative biodegradable sources similar to petroleum plastics but with a lower environmental impact than petroleum plastics. Solution casting was utilized to fabricate the blended films of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/cellulose acetate(CA)/starch with varying ratios with subsequent testing of their biodegradability using amylase and cellulase enzymes. Before and after enzymatic biodegradability testing, SEM, FTIR, tensile strength, elongation percentage, and swelling of (PVA/CA):(Starch) blended films were investigated. The optimized mechanical properties tensile strength appear at the ratio of (PVA/CA):(Starch) 1:1 was 37.17 ± 1.04 MPa. Using both amylase and cellulase enzymes at the same blend of the polymer best biodegradability that resulted in releasing 131.5 mg/dl of glucose units. The results suggest that (PVA/CA):(Starch) films blended in a ratio of 1:1 can replace petroleum-based plastics and become a green alternative.