Biodegradable Electrosprayed Pectin Films: An Alternative to Valorize Coffee Mucilage.

The use of pectin from coffee mucilage (P_I) is an alternative to reduce the environmental impact of the wet processing coffee industries by applying it in the generation of degradable films. Hence, the aim of this work was to valorize industrial coffee waste as a source of pectin to prepare biodegradable films by a novel methodology (electrospraying), perform chemical characterization of pectin, and compare the films with a control method (casting) and pectin (citric, P_C). Coffee mucilage pectin composition (P_I) was different, having smaller galacturonic acid content (52.2%) than P_C. The presence of neutral sugars (ribose, xylose, glucose), the high degree of esterification (84.92 ± 1.70) and the diffractogram and Raman spectra results, gave the basis to consider P_I as a high methoxyl pectin. P_I films showed different physical properties and structure than Pc, depending on the composition and method of production. Regarding mechanical and barrier characteristics, films prepared with pectin from coffee mucilage presented a typical behavior of rigid polymers; they were also more permeable to water vapor (2.91 ± 0.02 × 10⁻¹² g/s m Pa) and were highly biodegradable and soluble in water. Due to these characteristics, the production of films from coffee mucilage pectin becomes a suitable alternative to give added value to this unexploited waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]