Method for manufacturing a disposable product in biodegradable material based on citrus fruit pulp and related disposable product.

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a disposable product in biodegradable material based on citrus fruit pulp.

Moreover, the present invention relates to a disposable product in biodegradable material based on citrus fruit pulp.

In particular, the present invention relates to a disposable product in biodegradable material based on citrus fruit pulp, of the type usable as disposable tableware, such as for example disposable plates, glasses or cutlery.

In recent years, the use of biodegradable materials for commonly used products has been the subject of growing interest. Numerous recent studies aim at the development of new plant-based materials to obtain eco-compatible products. This issue is particularly felt in the context of disposable products that are currently produced in plastic material and constitute an important volume of urban solid waste and a non-negligible environmental problem. An example of known biodegradable material products is described in the Chinese patent application CN109077567 (A) which describes ecological natural disposable tableware made with leaves of woody plants and a method of their preparation. The dishes obtained from the leaves are made by crushing, gluing, and hot pressing. The raw materials mentioned in the document are lychee leaves, banana leaves, elm leaves, grape leaves, orange leaves, mulberry leaves, lotus leaves, Japanese banana leaves, tea leaves, myrtle leaves, glutinous rice, millet and the like.

There are also disposable table wares made from cellulose and corn derivatives.

Although advantageous in some respects, currently known disposable products in biodegradable material suffer of the problem of having poor heat resistance, insufficient mechanical strength for application as dishes for serving and consuming food.

Furthermore, currently known disposable products in biodegradable material do not have as raw material vegetable products that are abundant in Italy and which in particular are waste.

The citrus fruit pulp, define what remains of the citrus fruits after squeezing, and it is the wet residue that remains at the end of the industrial production of citrus juice and which represents about 50% of the weight of the processed fruit. According to some studies, the pulp produced in Italy amounts to about 1 million tons per year.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a disposable product in biodegradable material based on citrus fruit pulp and a related disposable product that allows the use of waste plant material with the reduction of production costs. Furthermore, the object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a disposable product in biodegradable material based on citrus fruit pulp which has mechanical and thermal resistance, which does not release toxic substances in contact with food and which is easily biodegradable, and therefore having characteristics such as to overcome the limits that still affect the current products in biodegradable material and production methods with reference to the known art.

According to the present invention, a method for manufacturing a disposable product in biodegradable material based on citrus fruit pulp is provided, as defined in claim 1.

According to the present invention, also a disposable product in biodegradable material based on citrus fruit pulp is provided, as defined in claim 8. For a better understanding of the present invention, a preferred embodiment is now described, purely by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

- Figure 1 shows a production scheme of a method for manufacturing a disposable product in biodegradable material based on citrus fruit pulp, according to the invention; - Figure 2 shows a first embodiment of a disposable product in biodegradable material based on citrus fruit pulp, according to the invention.

With reference to these figures and in particular to figure 1, a method for manufacturing a disposable product in biodegradable material based on citrus fruit pulp and the related production method is shown, according to the invention.

In particular, a method 100 for producing a disposable product in biodegradable material based on citrus fruit pulp is provided and comprises the following phases:

101 of drying the citrus fruit paste at a temperature between 30° C and 60° C;

- 102 of pulverizing the citrus fruit pulp dried in the previous phase to obtain a powder; - 103 of sieving the powder obtained in the previous step using suitable sieves with mesh sizes equal to or less than 90 pm;

- 104 of pressing the powder in a hydraulic press in which the pressure at which the process is carried out is between 1 bar and 15 bar.

According to an aspect of the invention, the step 104 of pressing the powder in a hydraulic press takes place at a temperature comprised between 30° C and 200° C. According to an aspect of the invention, the method

100 comprises a step 105 of adding a plasticizer compound selected from the group consisting of glycerol, beeswax, gelatin, cardanol, vegetable oils, pectin, alginate sodium, animal and vegetable proteins to the sieved powder in step 103.

According to another aspect of the invention, the method 100 comprises a step 106 of adding to the sieved powder in step 103, in which said powder is added to a cross-linking compound selected from the group consisting of citric acid, sodium hypophosphite, calcium chloride, magnesium sulfate, glutaraldehyde, benzaldehyde.

According to an aspect of the invention, the method 100 comprises a step 107 of adding, to the powder sieved in step 103, distilled water or an organic solution selected from the group consisting of hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide, glycerol, citric acid, sodium hypophosphite, chloride calcium, sodium alginate, magnesium sulfate.

According to an aspect of the invention, the method 100 comprises a step 108 of adding, to the sieved powder in step 103, an organic solution selected from the group consisting of hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide, glycerol, citric acid, sodium hypophosphite, chloride calcium, sodium alginate. According to one aspect of the invention, the organic solution is selected from the group consisting of ethanol, methanol, acetic acid, preferably in a concentration between 2% and 50% by weight with respect to the powder.

According to one aspect of the invention, as shown in figure 2, a disposable product 200 in biodegradable material based on citrus fruit pulp is composed of dried and pulverized citrus pulp and subjected to pressing.

According to one aspect of the invention, the disposable product 200 is included in the group consisting of: glass, plate, disposable cutlery.

According to one aspect of the invention, the disposable product 200 consists of citrus pulp reduced to powder and subjected to pressing, and additives such as a cross-linking compound and / or a plasticizer product. Advantageously, the disposable product 200 is resistant and safe in contact with even hot foods.

Advantageously according to the invention, the disposable product in biodegradable material based on citrus fruit pulp is economical and eco-friendly.

Therefore, the disposable product in biodegradable material based on citrus fruit pulp and the related production method according to the invention are simple and economical . Finally, it is clear that modifications and variations may be made to the method for manufacturing a biodegradable disposable product based on citrus fruit pulp and to the disposable product described and illustrated here without departing from the protective scope of the present invention, as defined in the attached claims.