ARS | Publication request: THE EFFECT OF SUBSTITUTING MILK-PROTEIN BASED BIOMATERIALS FOR POLYETHYLENE ON MATERIAL PROPERTIES OF MOLDED PRODUCTS

Submitted to: UJNR Food & Agricultural Panel Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: July 20, 2006
Publication Date: October 21, 2006
Citation: Onwulata, C.I., Isobe, S. 2006. The effect of substituting milk-protein based biomaterials for polyethylene on material properties of molded products. UJNR Food & Agricultural Panel Proceedings.

Technical Abstract: The need to reduce the use of petroleum-based materials in packaging and plastics has resulted in research efforts focused on using plant derived agricultural or biomaterials as replacements for all or some of the materials. In this study, processing techniques for extrusion of blends containing starch and milk proteins that can react with polyethylene (PE) were explored. Subsequent injection molding of the blends with various concentrations of starch and milk proteins demonstrated the usefulness of the blends in decreasing the amount PE required in molded products by up to 50%. This work demonstrates that extrusion (E) and injection molding (IM) processes (E-IM) can effectively convert agricultural materials into new value-added products.