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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Functional Foods Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #330771
Research Project: Evaluation of the Chemical and Physical Properties of Low-Value Agricultural Crops and Products to Enhance Their Use and Value

Location: Functional Foods Research

Title: Fabrication of polypropylene bio-composites utilizing camelina press cake

Author
item Tisserat, Brent
item REIFSCHNEIDER, LOUIS - Illinois State University
item Berhow, Mark

Submitted to: Society of Plastics Engineers Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/8/2017
Publication Date: 5/10/2017
Citation: Tisserat, B., Reifschneider, L., Berhow, M.A. 2017. Fabrication of polypropylene bio-composites utilizing camelina press cake. Proceedings of ANTEC-Society of Plastic Engineers. 17:612-615.

Interpretive Summary: Camelina (Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz, family Brassicaceae) is an emerging oilseed crop which produces high oil content but has a press cake that contains glycosinolates which are potential health risks if employed as an animal feed. As an alternative, we employed Camelina press cake as a bio-filler material to blend with thermoplastic resins to create bio-composites. The mechanical strength of the bio-composites were found to be similar to commercial bio-composites. This paper affirms that Camelina press cake can be economically employed in the plastic industry to provide a source of revenue to the Camelina processors and growers.

Technical Abstract: Camelina (Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz, family Brassicaceae) is an emerging oilseed crop which produces high oil content but has a press cake that contains glycosinolates which are potential health risks if employed as an animal feed. Camelina press cake (CAM) was studied as a filler material to produce lignocellulosic plastic composites (LPC). LPCs of polypropylene (PP) blended with 25% or 40% by weight of CAM with 0% or 5% by weight of maleated PP (MAPP) were produced by twin screw compounding and injection molding. Injection molded test specimens were evaluated for their tensile, flexural, impact, and thermal properties. Composites containing MAPP had significantly improved tensile and flexural properties compared to neat PP or composites without MAPP. LPCs with CAM fillers and had similar mechanical properties to LPCs containing wood fillers such as Osage orange wood or Paulownia wood. Impact strength properties of all composites were significantly lower than neat PP although LPCs containing MAPP were superior to LPCs without MAPP. LPCs were also derived from mixing equal portions of wood filler and CAM. These mixed filler LPCs show an improved mechanical properties suggesting that CAM was compatible with other filler sources. Soaking of tensile bars of the various CAM blends in distilled water for 35 days may alter their mechanical properties and cause weight gain.