Chitosan in combination with cellulose increases the mechanical strength of paperboard (Makino
0926-6690/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.indcrop.2011.07.034
N. Kaisangsri et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 37 (2012) 542–546 543
and Hirata, 1997). Gällstedt and Hedenqvist (2006) found that
pulp–fiber–chitosan sheets with high concentrations of chitosan
solution had slightly better mechanical properties than sheets
without chitosan. Zhai et al. (2004) found that the tensile strength
of the starch films increased largely after incorporating 20% chitosan into corn starch film. Finally, Bourtoom and Chinnan (2008)
reported that a biodegradable blend from rice starch–chitosan was
lighter and more yellow than starch film.
Although biodegradable foam trays have been developed, with
many reports detailing a starch/chitosan blend, there are few
reports of cassava starch-based foam blended with chitosan. This
work reports biodegradable foam trays prepared from raw materials of cassava starch, an economically important commodity of
Thailand, and two types of natural polymer, chitosan and kraft fiber
for replacement of plastic or polystyrene foam