Utilization of Agro-waste as a Reinforcement Material in Polymer Matrix for Biodegradable Packaging Applications

In present juncture, the application of synthetic polymers has attracted a lot of awareness due to them being readily available and their low density, strong water repelling nature, and ease to synthesize. Therefore, we require to notice limiting the usage of essential plastics and come up with some alternatives to curtail the use of non-biodegradable garbage. Compositional analyses such as cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin contents of agricultural wastes using TAPPI method are described in this chapter. Composites synthesized from polymer and extensive available agricultural wastes are biodegradable in nature. The reliable percentage of cellulose in agricultural wastes is the main cause to motivate researchers for using wastes as a reinforcing agent in polymer matrix. Various types of synthesizing techniques such as hand layup, extrusion, injection, melt mixing, and solvent casting methods have been used by numerous scientists for green packaging film. The interfacial interaction of synthetic polymer and agricultural wastes is also enhanced using various pretreatment techniques such as physical (chipping, shredding, milling, and grinding), biological, chemical (acid, alkali, solvent, etc.), and physiochemical treatment (lime pretreatment/wet oxidative pretreatment, organosolv pretreatment, ammonia fiber/freeze explosion, steam pretreatment, etc.). This chapter elucidates various analytical techniques, i.e., tensile strength, optical characteristics, thermal stability, and water vapor permeability tests, to observe a feasibility to agricultural waste-based packaging film.