A facile preparation of chitosan-based oleyl glycidyl ether for waterproof and oil-resistant paper
摘要
Using petroleum-based plastic materials poses many serious problems, including resource consumption and environmental pollution. Paper-based materials are good substitutes for plastic products because of their biodegradability, resource-richness, and recyclability. Paper’s poor water and oil resistance limits its wide application in food packaging. The use of water and oil repellents is an effective strategy to improve the barrier properties of paper. However, fluorine-containing oil repellents produce perfluorooctanoic acid/perfluorooctanesulfonyl compounds (PFOA/PFOS), which are hazardous to human beings and the environment, during the preparation and use of the repellents. Therefore, developing non-toxic, harmless, and biodegradable bio-based waterproof and oil-resistant coatings is the mainstream trend in the future. In this study, simple and environmentally friendly fluorine-free waterproof and oil-resistant coatings for food wrapping paper were developed by grafting oleyl alcohol onto chitosan using the ring-opening reaction of epichlorohydrin, and the reagents successfully adhered to the surface of the paper. The successful synthesis of waterproof and oil-resistant coatings was confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and infrared (IR) analyses. The chitosan-based coatings (CHI-g-xOA, x = 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1) with different oleyl alcohol contents were prepared by the facile method. The obtained coated paper CHI-g-xOA-p (x = 1/4) has not only excellent oil resistance (Kit rating value of 11 ± 1.0/12), which meets the food-grade oil-proof requirement, but also has excellent water resistance (Cobb 60 value of 11.86 ± 1.60 g/m2). Compared with the uncoated paper, the tensile strength and water vapor transmission rate of the coated paper were significantly improved.