Sustainable Hydrophobic and Moisture-Resistant Coating Derived from Downstream Corn Oil

Sustainable coating as a replacement for petroleum-derived materials is highly required for packaging and other applications to reduce the generation of land and ocean pollution. In this study, a novel approach has been introduced to incorporate hydrolyzable silane (-Si-OCH2CH3) groups in the downstream corn oil backbone (one of the coproducts of bioethanol industry) which has been consequently used for the fabrication of hydrophobic and moisture-resistant coating for paper substrate. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images confirmed the uniform coating of the silane-modified epoxidized downstream corn oil (SECO) over the paper. The condensation reaction has taken place with the hydroxyl group of paper and SECO, and as a result, the number of surface hydroxyl group was reduced to make a hydrophobic surface on coated paper with static water contact angle (WCA) of 129.4 +/- 1.12 degrees. SECO-coated paper showed almost 67% decrease in specific water vapor transmission rate compared to that of the uncoated filter paper. These results indicate that the SECO coating delivers excellent moisture barrier and hydrophobicity to the paper substrate. Thus, SECO might be a competitive substitute to petroleum-based polymers for fluorine-free hydrophobic and moisture-resistant coating. This research finding can find application especially in huge paper packaging industries as well as cellulose-based products such as fiber and foam.