Phosphated Avocado Seed: A Renewable Biomaterial for Preparing a Flame Retardant Biofiller

Abstract The cellulose and starch present in the avocado seed can be chemically modified to obtain biofillers with fire retarding characteristics. The resulting composites could be used as substitute of the corresponding halogenated composites. For this, the avocado seed was first washed, dehydrated and pulverized, and thereafter, chemically modified with phosphoric acid in the presence of urea. This was studied using infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance and X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy, in order to determine the resulting chemical structure and confirm the presence of the proposed functional groups. In addition, scanning electron microscopy and elemental analysis were used, respectively, to establish the resulting morphological changes, as well as the elements present on the surface of the modified material. Thermogravimetric analysis was also carried out in order to establish the thermal stability of the material and predict the effect on the flame retardancy due to the mentioned chemical modification. Further tests established that the obtained modified structure and morphology of the avocado seed was highly dependent on the method used to dehydrate the pulverized avocado seed. It was also determined that chemical modification greatly increased the thermal stability of the avocado seed in air atmosphere. The flame-retardant effect of the modified avocado seed was assessed in polyethylene/ethylene-vinyl-acetate (PE/EVA) composites via cone calorimeter tests. These results showed that the modified avocado seed decreased the peak of the heat release rate (pHRR) by 50% and the total heat released (THR) by 15%. This phosphated avocado seed could be a good option as a renewable biofiller for polymer composites with enhanced flame-retardant properties.