Development of antimicrobial jute packaging using chitosan and chitosan–metal complex

Scoured jute fabrics were treated with chitosan (pre-dissolved in 1% acetic acid) under a variety of conditions. The latter were included chitosan concentration, fixation temperature and time. The chitosan-treated jute fabrics were subjected to five washing cycles after each cycle the fabrics were monitored for antimicrobial activity and nitrogen content. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated using two kinds of microorganisms, namely, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Candida albicans (C. albicans). Results obtained show that, although scoured jute fabrics contain residual nitrogen content amount 0.22% it did not shows any antimicrobial activity towards S. aureus or C. albicans. Treatment of jute fabrics with chitosan improves only the antibacterial properties towards S. aureus whereas, antifungal properties remain intact. A similar study was carried out using chitosan–metal complex aiming to impart the jute fabric antimicrobial properties. In this regards, Ag1+, Zn2+ and Zr2+ ions were allowed separately to form a complex with chitosan. It has been found that, jute fabrics treated with chitosan–metal complex show better antimicrobial properties than those fabrics treated with either chitosan or metal salt separately. Moreover, the jute fabrics treated with chitosan–Zn complex have higher antimicrobial properties compared with those samples treated with chitosan–Zr or chitosan–Ag complexes.