Development and Characterization of Thermoplastics from Corn Distillers Grains Grafted with Various Methacrylates

A new approach has been developed to add high value to corn Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS) by developing thermoplastics with controllable dry and wet tensile properties. Although attempts have been made to develop thermoplastics from DDGS, the presence of carbohydrates, proteins, and oil makes it difficult to use or modify DDGS for various applications and obtain useful thermoplastics. In this research, DDGS was grafted with individual and a combination of four vinyl monomers (methyl, ethyl, butyl, and hexyl methacrylate; MMA, EMA, BMA and HMA, respectively) and the grafted DDGS was compression molded into films. The type of monomer and amount of homopolymers in the films considerably influenced tensile strength and water stability. At similar grafting ratios, HMA provided higher thermoplasticity, but films with BMA homopolymers had higher elongations (up to 19%). The addition of homopolymers was necessary to obtain films with good strength, elongation, and water stability.