Cutin from agro-waste as a raw material for the production of bioplastics

Cutin is the main component of plant cuticles constituting the framework that supports the rest of the cuticle components. This biopolymer is composed of esterified bi- and trifunctional fatty acids. Despite its ubiquity in terrestrial plants, it has been underutilized as raw material due to its ins...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Heredia-Guerrero, José A., Heredia, Antonio, Domínguez, Eva, Cingolani, Roberto, Bayer, Ilker S., Athanassiou, Athanassia, Benítez, José J.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/191575
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/191575
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Raw material
Agro-waste
Bioplastics
Cutin
Fatty acids
Biomass
Descripción
Sumario:Cutin is the main component of plant cuticles constituting the framework that supports the rest of the cuticle components. This biopolymer is composed of esterified bi- and trifunctional fatty acids. Despite its ubiquity in terrestrial plants, it has been underutilized as raw material due to its insolubility and lack of melting point. However, in recent years, a few technologies have been developed to obtain cutin monomers from several agro-wastes at an industrial scale. This review is focused on the description of cutin properties, biodegradability, chemical composition, processability, abundance, and the state of art of the fabrication of cutin-based materials in order to evaluate whether this biopolymer can be considered a source for the production of renewable materials.