The world-wide production and consumption of
plastics made from petroleum sources has increased
enormously in the past 20 years. Disposal of used
plastic products has become a public concern because
of their non-degradability (Chen et al., 2002). Much
effort has been put forth to produce environmentally
friendly alternatives to plastic products to alleviate
widespread concerns about their long-term survival in
landfills and toxic by-products from their incineration(Cha et al., 1999). Starch, a widely available polysaccharide,
has been studied as an alternative to conventional
petroleum plastics. A multibillion-bushel
surplus of corn is the major source of starch in the
US (Willett et al., 1995).