Mechanical properties of bacterial nanocellulose membrane from pineapple peel waste after homogenization process

Abstract

Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) has unique physical properties such as having high crystallinity, mechanical strength, purity, porosity, high water absorption capacity and biodegradable. This research aims to investigate the effect of high-pressure homogenizer (HPH) treatment cycle on the tensile strength and morphology of BNC membrane. This experiment begins from pineapple peel waste juice added with Acetobacter xylinum incubated for 14 days. The yielded pellicle then washed by distilled water then immersed in 1% NaOH for 24 h and pellicle well disintegrated using a high-speed blender, followed by homogenizing using HPH with repetition of 5 cycles at 150 bar. The solution was cast into a rectangular glass container and dried into an oven at 60°C for 8 h. Results show that the tensile strength of BNC was 77.76 MPa and 75.97 MPa for membrane without HPH process and HPH process, respectively. The elastic modulus of BNC was16 GPa and 27.25 GPa for membrane without HPH process and HPH process, respectively. Morphological analysis using Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed the pores of BNC membrane prepared using HPH smaller than non-HPH. This means that the BNC membrane prepared by HPH was dense compared than Non-HPH membrane. Dense membrane caused a higher strength of the membrane.