Chemical modification of starch - A study on modification methods of starch to increase the compatibility with synthetic polymers and the application of starch in the industry

Meulen, D. van der (2009) Chemical modification of starch - A study on modification methods of starch to increase the compatibility with synthetic polymers and the application of starch in the industry. Bachelor's Thesis, Industrial Engineering and Management.

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Abstract

This research describes chemical modification methods of starch currently known in the literature. Five modification methods widely used in the industry are discussed and grafting seems to be the most promising method to increase the compatibility between starch and synthetic polymers. Furthermore, four commercially viable starch derivatives prepared by the oxidation, esterification, cationization and cross-linking of starch are modeled in Molecular Modeling Pro Plus. Their solubility parameters are calculated and compared to the solubility parameters of four synthetic polymers: poly vinyl alcohol) (PVA), poly(methyl acrylate) (PMA), poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) and poly(25%styrene-75%butadiene) (SBR rubber). The results indicate that the oxidized starch derivative and the cationic starch derivative might be soluble into PVA and PVAc respectively. This might indicate that binary blends of these are stable. Finally, a financial analysis is conducted on basis of a hypothetical case study provided by AVEBE. The added value of this financial analysis is to confirm whether the production of a starch derivative is commercially viable when this derivative solely replaces synthetic polymers in commercial products at low filler content (3 wt%). The production of starch derivatives used as filler can be commercially viable, but this mainly depends on the expected demand and sales price.

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor's Thesis)
Degree programme:	Industrial Engineering and Management
Thesis type:	Bachelor's Thesis
Language:	English
Date Deposited:	15 Feb 2018 07:30
Last Modified:	15 Feb 2018 07:30
URI:	https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/9093

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