The purpose of this study was to investigate the functional properties (thickness; water vapor
permeability (WVP); film microstructure, tensile strength (TS) and biodegradability) of
carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)/gelatin (gel)/chitosan (chi) biocomposite film as influenced
by different drying temperature (25 and 60 °C). Seven formulations (CMC/gel/chi) prepared
were control (100/0/0), formulations A (80/20/0), B (80/0/20), C (80/10/10), D (60/20/20),
E (60/30/10), and F (60/10/30). Different drying temperature resulted in different time taken
for the film to dry. Results revealed that formulation F was optimal due to its high tensile
strength and low WVP rate which support its biodegradability for both drying conditions. FTIR
assay revealed a strong carboxyl group for CMC, which contributed to high biodegradability
results (85.3 vs. 85.50%) for room vs. oven dried specimens, respectively. Such desirable
characteristics demonstrated that film F holds remarkable potential as edible films material
with enhanced positive impacts on the environment and community.
This study investigated the optimization of chicken skin gelatin film production using different concentrations of glycerol as plasticizer, specifically for use as biodegradable food packaging. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the production of gelatin films by following a central composite design (CCD) for two quantitative modulators-(A) gelatin at 1.0, 2.5 and 4.0 g; and (B) glycerol at 0, 0.75, 1.50 g-with outcome metrics to predict tensile strength (TS), elongation at break (EAB) and water vapor permeability (WVP). Potentially optimized conditions were experimentally validated to confirm the model's suggestions of 4.0 g for gelatin and 1.5 g for glycerol. Experimental results yielded a TS of 3.81 N/mm, which was higher than the RSM predicted value of 3.09 N/mm (p