Conventional food packaging materials are generally petroleum-based non-biodegradable polymers such as PET, PE, PP, PS etc. These materials could take up to 500 years to degrade in the natural environment. My research seeks an alternative to single-use plastic packaging and cellulosic fibres extracted from plant biomasses have a significant potential for this.
Extraction of fibres or pre-treatment of lignocellulosic biomass is the first primary step to develop paper sheet- or moulded-based food packaging.