PREPARATION AND PROPERTY ASSESSMENT OF ECO-FRIENDLY COMPOSITE BASED ON POLYVINYL ALCOHOL AND LIGNIN EXTRACTED FROM BIOMASS

Abstract

Biodegradable composite films, based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and lignin extracted from sugar bagasse, were fabricated with various weight ratios between two components. The composites show adequate characteristics contributed by PVA and lignin which have specific functional groups revealed by Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). In addition, the composites possess outstanding characteristics including comparable optical and mechanical properties investigated by mechanical testing method and Ultraviolet–visible (UV) spectroscopy. The results also reveal that the mechanical properties of the PVA film containing 25% lignin are superior to the pristine PVA film and the composite supplemented by lignin has the ability of high absorbency of UV radiation, enabling the PVA/lignin composite film to be used as an eco-friendly material with UV-shielding property.