Polylactic Acid Composites Reinforced with Eggshell/CaCO3 Filler Particles: A Review

Abstract

Statistics reveal that egg production has increased in recent decades. This growth suggests there is a global rise in available eggshell biomass due to the current underutilization of this bio-waste material. A number of different applications for waste eggshells (WEGs) are known, that include their use as an additive in human/animal food, soil amendment, cosmetics, catalyst, sorbent, and filler in polymer composites. In this article, worldwide egg production and leading countries are examined, in addition to a discussion of the various applications of eggshell biomass. Eggshells are a rich supplement of calcium carbonate; therefore, they can be added as a particulate filler to polymer composites. In turn, the addition of a lower-cost filler, such as eggshell or calcium carbonate, can reduce overall material fabrication costs. Polylactic acid (PLA) is currently a high-demand biopolymer, where the fabrication of PLA composites has gained increasing attention due to its eco-friendly properties. In this review, PLA composites that contain calcium carbonate or eggshells are emphasized, and the mechanical properties of the composites (e.g., tensile strength, flexural strength, tensile elastic modulus, flexural modulus, and elongation (%) at break) are investigated. The results from this review reveal that the addition of eggshell/calcium carbonate to PLA reduces the tensile and flexural strength of PLA composites, whereas an increase in the tensile and flexural modulus, and elongation (%) at break of composites are described herein.