Extraction and application of kefiran from water-based sources

• Main Author: Tan, Shannon Jia Ying
• Other Authors: Loo Say Chye Joachim
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/76772
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

As the world modernized, there were plenty of efforts made to preserve the quality and shelf life of the food today. As such, the environment has been compromised. These food packaging materials are mainly made up of plastics which constitute adverse effects on our environment, and also affect the sustainability of our development. Therefore, countless of efforts have been made to mitigate these problems traditional food packaging materials pose. As such, nature derived materials to substitute plastic films have been studied. In the present work, an exopolysaccharide produced by microorganisms present in kefir grains namely, kefiran has been studied to make films. Different concentrations of glycerol addition in kefiran films and the ability of kefiran to form films were analysed and evaluated. The kefiran films with or without glycerol addition, all exhibit different solubility characteristics. Films without glycerol exhibits high elastic modulus and tensile strength, thus were rigid and brittle. The elastic modulus and tensile strength decrease with the addition of glycerol to the kefiran films, giving them flexibilities similar to synthetic materials.