Studying the effect of temperature and nanoreinforcement on the migration of TBHQ antioxidant from Poly(lactic acid) based nanocomposite active film

A Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) based nanocomposite active packaging has been developed for the controlled release of tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) antioxidant. PLA based active films were loaded with TBHQ (3%wt) or mixture of modified cellulose nanofiber (MCNF) (8%wt) and TBHQ (3%wt) to obtain active and nanocomposite active films, respectively. Release studies indicated that the release rate of TBHQ in 95% ethanol simulant decreased by the addition of MCNF. Faster and higher release of TBHQ occurred at 40 °C according to Arrhenius law. However, the presence of MCNF diminished the increasing effect of temperature on the release rate. The diffusion coefficient (D) for PLA-TBHQ and PLA-MCNF-TBHQ films increased from 6.75 and 4.34 ×10-8 cm2.s-1 to 19.85 and 8.49 ×10-8 cm2.s-1 respectively by increasing temperature from 4 °C to 40 °C. Also the presence of MCNF caused to increase in activation energy of naocomposite active film.