Abstract

Food oxidation is one of the major concerns that food producers and consumers face. In that regard, we are developing antioxidant polyethylene terephthalate (PET) filmthat could be employed for packaging fish products. Commercial PET films were surface treated and subsequently coated with either rosemary or clove extracts. Surface treatments involveda) corona treatment and b) chemical modification which are industrial means of surface treatment; Plasma treatment, at laboratory scale, was also used.Radical scavenging activities (RSA) of both pure plant extracts and coated film extractsweremeasured using the 2,2- Diphenyl-1-Picryl Hydrazyl(DPPH) method. Treated films coated with rosemary showed %RSA of 25.6%, 22.4% and 24.1% pertaining to plasma, chemical modification and corona treated films at 1402 ppm respectively and AE values of 0.35, 0.26 and 0.28 respectively, whilepure rosemaryextract showed %RSA of 16.03% and AE value of 0.19. As for the treated films that were coated with clove, it showed %RSA of 25.0%, 25.22% and 25.15% for plasma, chemical modification and corona treatments at 1402 ppm respectively and AE values of 0.31, 0.32 and 0.33 respectively, while the plantextract showed %RSA of 47.62% and AE value of 0.72. Thiobarbituric acid (TBA) antioxidant testwas also performed on fish muscle wrapped in all types of filmswhich all showed a remarkable decrease in the degree of fish oxidationranging between 50 to 80%. All TBA tests were terminated on day 6 of storage which is in accordance with the end of the product microbiological shelf life, where TVC reached the borderline of 7 log cfu/g. Contact angle measurements confirmedthat chemicallymodifiedfilms have the highest adhesion power followed by corona then plasmatreated films. Scanning electron microscopy(SEM) results supported contact angle measurements where chemically modified films showed the roughest surface followed by corona then plasma treated films. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements also revealedthat chemicallymodified filmsresulted in the formation of a higher concentration of oxygen containing functional groups on the PET surface as compared to other treatments, indicative of the highest surface adhesion capacity of the chemically modified film. Finally, the oxygen permeability of chemically modified PET films was the same as untreated films which is an indication that treatment did not affect film barrier properties.

Department

Chemistry Department

Degree Name

MS in Chemistry

Graduation Date

2-1-2016

Submission Date

January 2017

First Advisor

Kontominas, Michail G.

Committee Member 1

Mamdouh, Wael

Committee Member 2

Morcos, Marianne

Extent

96 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Rights

The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Approval has been obtained for this item

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