Investigation and modeling of moisture sorption behaviour of rice starch/carboxymethyl chitosan blend films

The biopolymer films from rice starch (RS) and carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCh) were developed by solution casting. The effect of the ratios of rice starch to CMCh (100: 0, 88: 12, 67: 33, 50: 50, 33: 67, 12: 88 and 0: 100) on water barrier properties and moisture sorption isotherm of blend films was studied. Water vapor permeability of rice starch film and CMCh film were 4.8 and 9.1 g. mm/m(2). mHg. day, respectively, while those of the RS/CMCh blend films ranged between 5.0 and 9.1 g. mm/m(2). mHg. day. The sorption isotherm of RS/CMCh blend films was determined at 25 degrees C. The sorption behaviour of RS/CMCh blend films could be categorized as type II and type III isotherms. The highest equilibrium moisture content (63.5 g water/100 g dry solid) was obtained in the CMCh film at aw of 0.87. For further application of sorption isotherm data, the moisture sorption characteristic of the films can be predicted using empirical models. Lewicki, Peleg, Guggenheim-Anderson-deBoer (GAB), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), and Oswin models were tested to fit the experimental data. The Peleg equation showed the best fit to the experimental data of the RS/CMCh blend films with r(2) approximate to 0.997 and the lowest % RMS of 6.2-44.3.