Desenvolvimento e caracterização de filmes antioxidantes de PVC e óleo de soja residual epoxidado e sua ultilização para preservação de frutas in natura

Abstract

The generation of residues, being domestic or industrial, is a problem that have been concerning the world for a long time. Nowadays, environmental issues are a very important aspect during the development of new technologies, sometimes been a critical requirement for its implementation. In this work, it has been developed a viable, and sustainable technology regarding the productionof epoxidized oil, from waste cooking oil, and its application as a primary plasticizer in PVC wrap films have been demonstrated. The results showed successful production of PVC films, with the use of only epoxidized oil and polymer, with improvement of some properties. After formulation studies, natural antioxidants were added to the films, and its properties on the reduction of browning of minimally processed apples and pears were study. The PVC films were produced by a solvent casting technology, and were characterized by its tensile strength, water vapor permeability, and antioxidant diffusion. The enzymatic browning control tests were performed in apples and pears, at room and cooling temperature. The results demonstrated that the films were effective on reducing the fruit enzymatic browning, mainly the film with citric acid, for pears, depending on the maturation state, the browning decrease 98%. Being aware of the simplicity of the formulations used for this work, and the presented properties of the films, in comparison of the commercial wraps, they proved to be a potential replacement.