Microcomposites of rice starch film reinforced with microcrystalline cellulose from palm pressed fiber

Rice starch films reinforced with microcrystalline cellulose from palm pressed fiber (MCPF) were prepared and characterized. The dependence of morphology and properties of rice starch films on MCPF (average length of about 0.480+0.023 μm) content in the range of 0 to 40 wt.-percent was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and the measuring of mechanical properties and water barrier property. The results demonstrated that the strong interactions between MCPF and between MCPF and rice starch film matrix play a key role in reinforcing the resulting composites. The rice starch film/MCPF biocomposites increased in tensile strength from 5.16 MPa for pure rice starch film to 44.23 MPa but decreased in elongation at breaking of composites. Additionally, the incorporation of MCPF into rice starch films provided an improvement of the water resistance for the rice starch films. The morphology of the existence of MCPF in the rice starch films can be easily observed in the biocomposite films when more than 15% of MCPF was used concomitant with larger agglomerates was observed.