Cocoyam Used as Substitute of Cassava in the Preparation of Starch Based Biofilms and Biocomposites by Casting Method

Cassava starch is used extensively to produce isotropic, odorless, tasteless, colorless, non-toxic and biologically degradable films. The similarity in composition, mineral content, microscopic, thermal, physicochemical and rheological properties between cassava and cocoyam starches being reported in literature, it is expected that, cocoyam could be used to increase the supply in equivalent starch. In this work, the possibility to replace cassava by cocoyam starch in the preparation of biomaterials is investigated. In this aim, the preparation of biofilms without and with 2 and 3D mineral fillers by casting method is brought out in one hand with cassava and in the other hand, with cocoyam. The water barrier and the mechanical characteristics of the films obtained with cocoyam starch are compared to those prepared with the same method but using cassava starch. The results show that cocoyam starch based films exhibit poor water barrier and mechanical characteristics due to its brittleness, which have been improved by the use of fillers. Meanwhile, they exhibit much poorer characteristics than those based on cassava starch both for films and biocomposites. Keywords— Biofilm; Biocomposites; Cassava starch; Cocoyam starch; Mechanical properties; Water barrier properties.