Effect of chemical treatment as a guide for in planta acetylation of starch required for the production of biodegradable plastics

The problems associated with the indiscriminate disposal of plastic products derived from fossil sources and the need to highlight production of alternatives using plants as factories formed the basis of the current research, which is aimed at evaluating the effect of chemical treatment as a pointer to the need for in planta acetylation of starch that would be useful in the production of biodegradable plastics. Native starches from cassava, sweet potato and maize were acetylated using acetic anhydride at 68 and 89% (w/v), respectively. After acetylation, the degree of substitution (DS) of each starch acetate was evaluated and seen to range between 1.21 and 1.92. Our results equally demonstrated that acetylating the starch enhanced the tensile strength, percentage elongation and thermostability of the bioplastics produced therefrom, which was observed as a function of the DS of the starch acetates and the level of plasticization. Implicit in these results, therefore, is the conclusion that starch acetylation can enhance its qualities for the production of biodegradable plastics.