Background: Petrochemical resources are becoming increasingly scarce, and petroleum-based plastic materials adversely impact the environment. Thus, an urgent need exists to replace petroleum-based materials with new and effective renewable materials.
Results: In this study, we isolated a wheat pentosan-degrading bacterium (MXT-1) from wheat-processing plant wastewater. The MXT-1 strain was identified using molecular biology techniques. We then analyzed the degradation characteristics of the bacteria in wheat pentosan. We found that wheat pentosan was effectively degraded by bacteria. The molecular weight of fermented wheat pentosan decreased from 1730 to 257 kDa. The pentosan before and after the biological modification was mixed with chitosan to prepare a composite film. After fermentation, the water-vapor permeability of the wheat pentosan film decreased from 0.2769 g·mm·(m2·h·KPa)-1 to 0.1286 g·mm·(m2·h·KPa)-1. The smooth and dense surface morphologies of the film was observed by scanning electron microscopy after fermentation. The tensile strength of the film decreased after fermentation modification, whereas the flexibility increased.
Conclusion: The results of this study have proved that the modified pentosan film could be a potential candidate for edible packaging films.