Polymer blends involving cottonseed protein and cottonseed meal

Authors: Cheng, Huai; He, Zhongqi; Dowd, Michael; Klasson, K Thomas

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/2021
Publication Date: 5/10/2021
Citation: Cheng, H.N., He, Z., Dowd, M.K., Klasson, K.T. 2021. Polymer blends involving cottonseed protein and cottonseed meal. In: Boyd, S., Huffman, M., Krogman, L., Sarkissian, A., editors. Proceedings of the National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conferences, January 5-7, 2021, Virtual. p. 63-68.

Interpretive Summary: The cotton industry will benefit from the use of cottonseed protein as a replacement for soy protein in wood adhesive applications. However, due to the supply-and-demand situation, cottonseed protein is currently more expensive than soy protein. Thus, it is important to enhance the performance-cost ratio for cottonseed protein relative to soy protein. Blending cottonseed protein with other polymeric components is one approach that the authors have been pursuing. In this paper, a review is given of the various promising cottonseed protein blends that have been studied in the authors’ laboratories. The information described in this work should be useful to future workers interested in using cottonseed protein as an adhesive or a bioplastic.

Technical Abstract: Polymer blending is a well-established method to generate new materials with modified properties adapted for particular applications. This method is especially valuable for agro-based materials, where improvements in end-use properties may be desired but chemical modifications may be undesirable. The resulting blends usually do not contain covalent bonds between the blended components and can more easily satisfy the regulatory and safety requirements during product development. In this paper, a review is given of the polyblends that we produced involving cottonseed protein or cottonseed meal for adhesive application. In particular, cottonseed protein can be blended with soy protein to make products that retain some of the better features of both materials. For cottonseed protein/polysaccharides blends, non-ionic polysaccharides (like starch and cellulose) can serve as fillers that lower the cost of the protein, while some anionic polysaccharides (e.g., carboxymethyl cellulose, low-methoxy pectin, and alginate) provide enhanced adhesive strength and water resistance compared with cottonseed protein alone. The use of nanocellulose, but not cellulose, has also shown improved adhesive performance relative to the protein by itself. Cottonseed meal has also been blended with polycaprolactone (together with a plasticizer, like cottonseed oil), and the blends show good melt adhesion properties. As shown in this review, many new and useful polyblends can be made from cottonseed protein and cottonseed meal for adhesive applications.