Maria Jose Galotto

• University of Santiago Chile

This study aims to investigate the behavior of poly (lactic acid) (PLA) by simulating its post‐consumption use and mechanical recycling through multiple extrusion processes. Due to PLA being used in the production of packaging materials for beverages such as water and juice, the plastic was exposed to food simulants A and B according to internation...

In the present study nanocomposites made of polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), graphene oxide (GO), and copper (II) oxide (CuO) nanoparticles on three compositions (1, 3 and 5 wt%), obtained through melt extrusion were developed. Properties of the nanocomposites obtained in their first and second processing were evaluated, and charac...

This study aimed to enhance the properties and compostability of active poly(lactic acid) (PLA) films by incorporating β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) inclusion complexes with allyl isothiocyanate (AITC). Films were prepared using melt extrusion and characterized based on their structural, chemical, morphological, thermal, and barrier properties. These inclu...

The high accumulation of plastic waste in the environment has led to great interest in biodegradable polymers, such as polylactic acid (PLA) or polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). Their benefits, combined with the application of electrospinning technology, represent an innovative proposal for the food packaging industry. This article provides a comprehen...

This study aimed to enhance the properties and compostability of active poly(lactic acid) (PLA) films by incorporating β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) inclusion complexes with allyl isothiocyanate (AITC). Films were prepared via melt extrusion and characterized by their structural, chemical, morphological, thermal and barrier properties. These inclusion comp...

Polymer‐based nanocomposites loaded with metal nanoparticles are an interesting alternative for the development of antimicrobial food packaging. However, affinity and dispersion of metal nanoparticles could be improved using nanoclays. Therefore, nanocomposite films based on poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and copper modified‐montmorillonite were developed...

Rigid polypropylene is mechanically recycled but flexible polypropylene is mostly used in energetic valorization because of the poor properties of the recycled polymer. A recycled polypropylene-based composite with outstanding properties for flexible food packaging was developed. For the first time, the influence of maleated polypropylene copolymer...

Expanded polystyrene will account for 5.3% of total global plastic production in 2021 and is widely used for food packaging due to its excellent moisture resistance and thermal insulation. However, some of these packages are often used only once before being discarded, generating large amounts of environmentally harmful plastic waste. A very attrac...

The development of polymer nanocomposites for food packaging has been increasing, but there is a lack of studies on their recyclability. The modification of the physical-mechanical properties and overall migration of post-industrial flexible recycled polypropylene (PIPP) and PIPP/compatibilizer/NI.44P clay nanocomposite with the simulated repetitiv...

In the last decade, among the emerging technologies in the area of bioplastics, additive manufacturing (AM), commonly referred to as 3D printing, stands out. This technology has gained great interest in the development of new products, mainly due to its capability to easily produce customized and low-cost plastic products. This work aims to evaluat...

International legislation requests to increase recycling rates of plastic waste towards a circular economy. Nowadays, high impact polystyrene from yogurt cups is not recycled on a commercial scale and research gaps need to be addressed. In this research, mechanical recycling of post-consumer yogurt cups was carried out at a pilot scale. The variati...

fluid and cocrystallization technologies for designing antimicrobial food packaging PLA nanocomposite foams loaded with eugenol cocrystals with prolonged release, Chemical Engineering Journal (2023), doi: https://doi. ABSTRACT Searching for effective strategies to modify the release rate of essential oil derivatives is one of the main challenges in...

Compounds derived from essential oils have been used in active packaging, but their volatility and degradability negatively affect stability and leads to high release rates. The present study aimed to develop PLA bio- nanocomposite foams loaded with carvacrol cocrystal by supercritical CO2 and its release into a food simulant for control release in...

The design of biodegradable polymeric materials is of increasing scientific interest due to accelerating levels of plastics pollution. One area of increasing interest is the design of biodegradable polymer films based on seaweed as a raw material. The goal of the study is to explore whether machine learning techniques can be used to predict the pro...

The deterioration of the properties of post-consumer recycled polyolefins is one of the challenges to address for their further use in new packaging systems. In this work, sheets based on nanocomposites of flexible post-consumer recycled polypropylene (PCPP) and amine (NI44P) and amine/silane (NI.31PS) organic modified clays were developed in order...

Ethylene is a phytohormone that is responsible of fruit and vegetable ripening. TiO2 has been studied as a possible solution to slowing down unwanted ripening processes, due to its photocatalytic capacity which enables it to remove ethylene. Thus, the objective of this study was to develop nanocomposites based on two types of eco-friendly materials...

This work aims to evaluate the effect of the extrusion temperature of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) with different grape pomace (GP) content for the development of active biocomposite films. Two different GP concentrations (10 and 15 wt.%) were used to obtain GP/PLA composites through extrusion at three different temperature profiles. The biocomposites w...

In this study, the solubility of lenalidomide (LND), an anti-cancer drug, was measured in pure carbon dioxide (CO₂) and in ethanol-CO₂ mixtures at various temperatures (308−338 K) and pressures (120−300 bar). Empirical models were used to correlate the experimental data obtained. Lenalidomide (CAS No. 191732-72-6) used in this study had a minimum p...

The research of active biodegradable multilayer materials are of current interest for developing functional and sustainable packages able to guarantee the microbiological safety of food. In this work, an active biodegradable trilayer packaging system composed of (1) an external layer of extruded polylactic acid (PLA) film, (2) an intermediate layer...

β-cyclodextrin and allyl isothiocyanate inclusion complexes (β-CD:AITC) have been proposed for developing fresh fruit and vegetable packaging materials. Therefore, the aim of this research was to develop active materials based on poly(lactic acid) (PLA) loaded with β-CD:AITC and to assess changes in the material properties during the release of AIT...

Among the most promising synthetic biopolymers to replace conventional plastics in numerous applications is MaterBi® (MB), a commercial biodegradable polymer based on modified starch and synthetic polymers. Actually, MB has important commercial applications as it shows interesting mechanical properties, thermal stability, processability and biodegr...

Collection and mechanical recycling of post-consumer flexible polypropylene packaging are limited, principally due to polypropylene being very lightweight. Moreover, service life and thermal-mechanical reprocessing degrade PP and change its thermal and rheological properties according to the structure and provenance of recycled PP. This work determ...

The food industry has a current challenge of increasing the recycling of post-consumer plastics to reduce plastic waste towards a circular economy, especially flexible polypropylene, which is highly demanded in food packaging. However, recycling post-consumer plastics is limited because service life and reprocessing degrade their physical-mechanica...

Biodegradable packaging materials with antimicrobial properties are main key for developing sustainable active packages able to protect different foodstuff. Thus, the aim of this research was developing a biopolymeric and antibacterial packaging material with a trilayer structure through the combination of extrusion, electrospinning and coating tec...

Betalains are bioactive compounds with remarkable functional and nutritional activities for health and food preservation and attractiveness. Nevertheless, they are highly sensitive to external factors, such as oxygen presence, light, and high temperatures. Therefore, the search for new structures, polymeric matrices, and efficient methods of encaps...

Abstract The supercritical fluid extraction of essential oil from rosemary leaves and its subsequent impregnation in linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) films were studied. The effects of temperature (318 and 338 K), pressure (15 and 25 MPa) and rosemary particle size (0.9 and 0.15 mm) on the extraction yield were investigated. Impregnation ass...

Abstract Determining the solubility of drugs in supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) is crucial to select an adequate SC-CO2 assisted technique (e.g., supercritical anti-solvent, rapid expansion of supercritical solution, etc.) to produce micro or nano sized drug particles. In this study, the solubility of sildenafil citrate (SLC) in SC-CO2 using...

This article proposes a foaming method using supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) to obtain compostable bionanocomposite foams based on PLA and organoclay (C30B) where this bionanocomposite was fabricated by a previous hot melt extrusion step. Neat PLA films and PLA/C30B films (1, 2, and 3 wt.%) were obtained by using a melt extrusion process follo...

In this research, the extraction with supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) and the subsequent impregnation of the extracted bioactive compounds from Zataria multiflora Boiss (Z. multiflora) into polylactic acid (PLA) films was investigated. The effects of temperature (318 and 338 K), pressure (15 and 25 MPa) and cosolvent presence (0 and 3 mol%) o...

Developing antimicrobial electrospun bionanocomposites with core/shell structure is an innovative strategy for producing active food packaging materials. The aim of this study was developing an antibacterial electrospun mat based on polylactic acid (PLA) coaxial fibers containing ethyl lauroyl arginate (LAE) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) through...

Polycaprolactone (PCL) and polycaprolactone-hydroxyapatite (PCL-HA) scaffolds were produced by foaming in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) at 20 MPa, as well as in one-step foaming and impregnation process using carvacrol as an antibacterial agent with proven activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The experimental design was...

Microcellular nanocomposite foams functionalized with cinnamaldehyde (Ci) were obtained through two-step supercritical foaming and impregnation processing. PLA nanocomposite foams with different C30B concentrations (1, 2, and 3 wt.%) were obtained by foaming with scCO2 at 25 MPa and 135 °C and impregnated with Ci at 12 MPa and 40 °C. The effect of...

Nowadays, polymeric materials are widely used in the development of food packages. However, as food products with a greater safety and longer durability are required, packaging research area has been focused on the production of functional materials able to reach such further protection. The incorporation of natural and synthetics active compounds...

Background: Allyl isothiocyanate is an excellent antimicrobial compound that has been applied in the development of active food packaging materials in the last years. However, the high volatility of this compound could prevent a lasting effect over time. In order to avoid this problem, cyclodextrin inclusion complexes have been proposed as an alter...

The performance characteristics of polylactic acid (PLA) as an active food packaging film can be highly influenced by the incorporation of active agents (AAs) into PLA, and the type of processing technique. In this review, the effect of processing techniques and the addition of natural AAs on the properties related to PLA performance as a packaging...

This chapter describes the principal conventional polymers and bioplastics used in food packaging in terms of their resources or raw materials, properties, uses and applications. Food packaging plastics represent an important part of total plastic waste that ends up in landfills or accumulates in the environment when they are not properly managed....

Coaxial electrospinning (EC) is a technology that allows the encapsulation of active compounds, such as ethyl lauroyl arginate (LAE), in shell/core structures, in order to develop new antimicrobial materials for food packaging that slow down the release of active compounds and extend the food's shelf life. For this reason, the objective of this stu...

Abstract Coaxial electrospinning (EC) is a technology that allows the encapsulation of active compounds, as ethyl lauroyl arginate (LAE), in shell/core structures, in order to develop new antimicrobial food packaging materials with slowdown of active compound's release with the purpose of extending food shelf life. For this reason, the objective of...

Abstract Eugenol (EUG) is the principal component of clove essential oil. It has demonstrated excellent antifungal properties against B. cinerea, one of the most important fungus in the fresh fruit decay. However, this substance is highly volatile, thermolabile and the direct contact with a food induce undesirable changes in the organoleptic proper...

Currently, reducing packaging plastic waste and food losses are concerning topics in the food packaging industry. As an alternative for these challenges, antimicrobial and antioxidant materials have been developed by incorporating active agents (AAs) into biodegradable polymers to extend the food shelf life. In this context, developing biodegradabl...

The deterioration of the physical–mechanical properties and loss of the chemical safety of plastics after consumption are topics of concern for food packaging applications. Incorporating nanoclays is an alternative to improve the performance of recycled plastics. However, properties and overall migration from polymer/clay nanocomposites to food req...

This review was focused on describing the combination of electrospinning and cyclodextrin inclusion complexes as one of the newest alternatives for the development of food packaging materials with antimicrobial and/or antioxidant properties. The advantages of this technological combination, the routes to design the active materials, the characteriz...

A potential bio-adsorber of contaminants in aqueous medium was developed in this work through modified starches using organic acids. Methylene blue (MB) was used as example of a pollutant agent. For this purpose, firstly three types of modified starches were prepared using malonic, glutaric, and valeric acids in aqueous solution at different concen...

Core/shell electrospun mats based on cellulose acetate (CA) and polycaprolactone (PCL) were developed as novel active materials for releasing quercetin (Quer) and curcumin (Cur). The effect of polymeric uniaxial and coaxial electrospun systems and the chemical structures of Quer and Cur on the structural, thermal, and mass transfer properties of th...

Antimicrobial compounds can be encapsulated into core/shell structures through coaxial electrospinning in order to develop novel active food packaging materials. In this work, poly (vinyl alcohol)-(ethyl lauroyl arginate)/poly (lactic acid) core/shell fibers, (PVOH-LAE/PLA)f, were developed with the purpose to study the influence of combining a hyd...

Polyethylene terephthalate from bottle waste (RPET) was compounded with an organically modified nanoclay at increasing concentrations by extrusion to improve its physical-mechanical properties. Nanocomposites evidenced combined intercalated/tactoid structures by XRD and TEM. The higher tactoid proportion increased the color variation and the opacit...

Nanotechnology is considered a highly valued technology to reduce the current environmental problem that is derived from plastic accumulation. The need to recycle and reuse packaging materials is essential to create a sustainable society towards a circular economy. However, the reprocessing of polymers leads to the deterioration of their characteri...

A new active coating was developed by using Cucumis metuliferus fruit extract as antioxidant additive with the aim of obtaining an easy way to functionalize low-density polyethylene (LDPE) films for food packaging applications. Thus, an extraction protocol was first optimized to determine the total phenolic compounds and the antioxidant activity of...

In this work, core-shell electrospun mats based on poly (lactic acid) (PLA) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) were developed as novel curcumin release materials. The effect of the incorporation of cellulose nanocrystals (CNN) in the PLA shell structure on structural, thermal and curcumin release were studied. A phenomenological mass transfer model was us...

Nanocomposite films based on PLA with 1.0% w/w silica nanoparticles (NP) and surface-functionalized silica nanoparticles with lactic acid (NP-LA), respectively, were obtained by extrusion process. Subsequently, cinnamaldehyde (ci) was incorporated through supercritical impregnation in the films at a pressure of 12 MPa, 40 °C temperature and 1.0 MPa...

The widespread use of antibiotics has led to the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacterial strains, and therefore a current concern for food safety and human health. The interest for new antimicrobial substances has been focused toward metal oxide nanoparticles. Specifically, titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been considered as an attractive antimicrobi...

En los últimos años, el desarrollo de nanocompósitos poliméricos se plantea como una interesante alternativa para el diseño de nuevos materiales para el envasado activo de alimentos. A pesar de esto, existe constante preocupación relacionada a la migración de los componentes activos incorporados en el material ya que, un material de envasado destin...

The açaí fruit (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) is well known for its high content of antioxidant compounds, especially anthocyanins, which provide beneficial health properties. The incorporation of this fruit is limited to food products whose processing does not involve the use of high temperatures due to the low thermal stability of these functional comp...

Actualmente el gran impacto de las infecciones bacterianas y la elevada resistencia de los microorganismos a los antibióticos comunes ha generado la necesidad e interés por buscar nuevas substancias antimicrobianas. En este contexto, una nanopartícula que exhibe una elevada actividad antimicrobiana es el dióxido de titanio. En este estudio, la acti...

The search for and synthesis of new antimicrobial nanostructures is important to reduce microbial incidence that induces infectious diseases and to aid in the antibiotic resistance crisis, which are two of the most pressing issues in global public health. In this work, novel, hollow, calcined titanium dioxide nanospheres (CSTiO2) were successfully...

Bionanocomposite films based on poly (lactic acid) (PLA) reinforced with nanoclay C30B (5.0% w/w) were impregnated with thymol (Thy) and cinnamaldehyde (Ci), incorporated through supercritical impregnation using carbon dioxide (scCO2). These assays were implemented at a pressure of 12 MPa, a constant temperature equal to 40 °C and a despressurizati...

Aristotelia chilensis berry, also known as maqui (MQ), has received an increased interest in the last years due to its high polyphenolic content and interesting biological activities. In this work, extractions of maqui fruit were carried out under water, ethanol and ethanol 50%. The hydroalcoholic extract presented the highest polyphenolic content,...

Inclusion complexes based on β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and antimicrobial compounds, were prepared by co-precipitation method, and characterized by entrapment efficiency (EE), thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, 1H NMR spectroscopy, and water sorption. In addition, experiments associated to evaluate the effect of relative humidity on the release of act...

The scCO2-assisted impregnation process has arisen as an effective method to impregnate solid materials. Its multiple advantages include high diffusion, it allows to obtain free-solvent materials and to operate under low temperatures, which permits to process thermolabile solutes. These characteristics have allowed its application at industrial sca...

The development of clay polymer nanocomposites has been presented as an interesting alternative for design of new active food packaging materials. In this work, low density polyethylene (LDPE) nanocomposites with ce-tylpyridinium bromide (CPB)-modified montmorillonite (Mt) were developed. In a first stage, Mt. was modified with different CPB propor...

High-aspect ratio Al2O3/Ni/Al2O3 core-shell hollow nanotubes were prepared by combining electrospinning, atomic layer deposition and a subsequent chemical reduction process. Electrospun PVOH nanofibers were obtained by electrospinning. Then, these fibers were coated with ALD to obtain PVOH/Al2O3/NiO/Al2O3 core-shell nanowires. Since the NiO must be...

Polymer starch-based blends were developed between Starch (St) and Poly(N-Vinyl-2-Pyrrolidone) (PVP). The starch was obtained by extraction from Peruvian yuca (Manihot esculenta), known as sweet corn starch. The films were obtained through the casting method. The thermoplastic starch films were formed through the incorporation of glycerol at 20% wt...

Active films (AFs) using poly(lactic acid) (PLA) as a polymeric matrix containing various propolis concentrations (5, 8.5, and 13%) as the active agent (AA) were developed using a casting method. The purpose was to determine the effects of the incorporation of AA on the physical properties of the films and to evaluate the antioxidant and antimicrob...

The aim of the present study was oriented to evaluate the effect of a commercial organoclay and the technique of preparation on the physical and antimicrobial properties of active eco‐friendly nanocomposites films. To this antimicrobial nanocomposite films were fabricated from cellulose acetate (CA) powder, triethyl citrate (TEC) plasticizer, a com...

In this work, the scCO2-assisted incorporation of thymol in LDPE nanocomposites with different concentrations of an organo-modified montmorillonite (OM-MMT) nanoclay is proposed as the preparation method of an antimicrobial food packaging system. Mass transfer characterization of thymol, for both incorporation and release processes, as a function o...

The main objective of this work was to study the release of cinnamaldehyde (CIN) from electrospun poly lactic acid (e-PLA) mats obtained through two techniques: (i) direct incorporation of active compound during the electrospinning process (e-PLA-CIN); and (ii) supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) impregnation of CIN within electrospun PLA mats (e-...

Marine algae are important biomass source which can be used as sources for the extraction of interesting reinforcing materials with antioxidant activity. An extraction protocol was developed to determine the extraction yield (%), the total phenolic compounds and the antioxidant activity of Durvillaea antarctica algae extract, a Chilean brown algae....

The search for new antimicrobial substances has increased in recent years. Antimicrobial nanostructures are one of the most promising alternatives. In this work, titanium dioxide nanotubes were obtained by an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process over electrospun polyvinyl alcohol nanofibers (PVN) at different temperatures with the purpose of obtai...

This work describes the procedures to obtain poly(lactic acid) (PLA) films containing natural nanofibers as well as to impregnate this material with an antimicrobial agent to be used in active food packaging. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PV) nanofibers containing cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) were successfully prepared by electrospinning, these electrospun...

The release of microencapsulated natural antimicrobial (AM) agents (thymol and carvacrol) from two encapsulating matrixes [maltodextrin (MD) and soy protein (SP)] were evaluated for possible use in food packaging coatings. Microcapsules were prepared by oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions at different concentrations (10, 20% for MD and 2, 5% for SP). High...

The aim of this investigation was obtain low density polyethylene with surfactant organoclay nanocomposites for food packaging applications.

The aim of this study was to develop, characterize and evaluate in vitro the efficacy of active films, based on an inclusion complex formed by β-cyclodextrin, 2-nonanone and two polymer matrices (polylactic acid and low density polyethylene). The different films were characterized by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calor...

LDPE nanocomposites with different concentrations of Cloisite 20A (2.5 and 5.0% (w/w)) were impregnated with thymol using supercritical carbon dioxide, with the aim of obtaining an antimicrobial packaging. Impregnation assays were carried out for 1 h at 313 K and employing two depressurization rates (10.0 and 1.0 MPa min-1) after the impregnation p...

Supercritical impregnation was used to incorporate a natural compound with antibacterial activity into biopolymer-based films to develop active food packaging materials. Impregnation tests were carried out under two pressure conditions (9 and 12 MPa), and three depressurization rates (0.1, 1 and 10 MPa min− 1) in a high-pressure cell at a constant...

Electrospun nanofibers of poly (vinyl alcohol) (PV) were obtained to improve dispersion of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) within hydrophobic biopolymeric matrices, such as poly(lactic acid) (PLA). Electrospun nanofibers (PV/CNC) n were successfully obtained with a final concentration of 23% (w/w) of CNC. Morphological, structural and thermal properti...

In this study, antioxidant food-packaging materials were developed by the incorporation of merkén, an aboriginal Chilean spice, into a biodegradable polymer matrix, poly(lactic acid). Antioxidant activity assays and the phenolic content of merkén showed interesting results compared to other condiments, such as oregano and parsley. Active materials...

In this work, electrospun fibers of polyvinyl alcohol (PV) and starch (ST) were obtained to improve dispersion of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) within a poly(lactic acid) (PLA) matrix with the aim of enhancing mechanical and barrier properties. The development and characterization of electrospun fibers with and without CNC, followed by their incorpo...

This study deals on the supercritical impregnation of thymol in polylactic acid (PLA) in order to obtain biodegradable antimicrobial films by means of a procedure, which is in agreement with the principles of green chemistry, reducing the environmental impact of products and of its preparation processes. The impregnation tests were carried out in a...

Nowadays, there has been a change in the paradigm of food packaging. It is expected that food packaging will be able to enhance food quality, shelf life, and food safety. In this sense, active packaging (AP) has arisen as an alternative to provide food packaging protection.Within the different AP systems, great attention has been focused on antimic...

In the last decades, the petroleum-based plastic materials have become essential materials for many industries. This kind of materials has excellent physical properties with a wide range of applications, and moreover, they are low cost and easy processing materials. However, despite the advantages offered by these materials, a massive accumulation...

A new active packaging film based on murta leaf extract was elaborated. The extract was incorporated into a methylcellulose layer which was coated on a low-density polyethylene (LDPE) film. Its antioxidant effectivity, antimicrobial activity, and physicochemical properties were evaluated. The active film was able to keep its antimicrobial and antio...

An important issue in food technology is that antimicrobial compounds can be used for various applications, such as the development of antimicrobial active packaging materials. Yet most antimicrobial compounds are volatile and require protection. In the present study, the inclusion complexes of 2-nonanone (2-NN) with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), were pre...

The aim of this investigation was to determine the effect of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) on dietary fiber, total phenolic (TPC), Vitamin B and E contents, antioxidant capacity (AC) and microbiological characteristics of gooseberry pulp immediately after processing (300-400-500 MPa/1-3-5 min) and after 30 days of storage at 4 °C. Initially, trea...