CHARACTERIZATION OF CHITOSAN GELATIN COMPOSITE FILM FROM FISH WASTE

Biodegradability of biopolymer films has led to a growing interest in their use as edible food packaging. Both chitosan and gelatin are natural polymers and are nontoxic, biodegradable and biocompatible polymers used in various food applications. Blending of two different biopolymers can intensely change the physico-chemical properties of film-forming solutions (FFS), thus affecting the functionality of the resulting films. The aim of this article is to investigate the properties of chitosan gelatin film prepared from shrimp shell waste and the unicorn leather jacket skin waste.

The gelatin extracted from the skin of unicorn leatherjacket with protein content of 88% (dry wet basis) and the chitosan with the degree of deacetylation of 85% was used for preparation of the film. Chitosan blended with gelatin showed improved physical properties compared to chitosan film.

The structural investigations by AFM (Fig. 1) and SEM analysis showed the biocompatibility of the chitosan gelatin film. Chitosan gelatin film exhibited a higher tensile strength value of 215.49 kg/cm² and an elongation break of 18.98%.

Thermal decomposition pattern of chitosan gelatin film was studied using TGA and DSC. The composite film was found to improve the barrier properties as well as had better strength compared to the single biopolymer films.