Extrusion of xylans extracted from corn cobs into biodegradable polymeric materials

Solvent casting technique, which comprises multiple energy demanding steps including the dissolution of a polymer in a solvent followed by the evaporation of the solvent from the polymer solution, is currently the main technique for the production of xylan based polymeric materials. The present study shows that sufficient water content renders arabinoglucuronoxylan (AGX) polymers extrudable, enabling the production of AGX based polymeric materials in a single step via extrusion, which is economically advantageous to solvent casting process for mass production. AGX polymers with water content of 27% were found to yield extrudates at an extrusion temperature of 90 degrees C. The extruded strips showed very good mechanical properties with an ultimate tensile strength of 76 +/- 6 MPa and elongation at break value of 35 +/- 8%, which were superior to the mechanical properties of the strips obtained from polylactic acid. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.