Synthetic bioplastics from cassava skin using the nata method and the addition of plasticizers

Abstract

Plastics have an important role in human life. But the difficulty of plastic degradation makes the emergence of much research to produce plastics that are easily degraded. Bio-based plastics are a major attraction for addressing environmental challenges and sustainable issues. The purpose of this study is to make bioplastics from cassava skin by fermentation. Cassava skin is a common waste found in Indonesia which is just thrown away so it can pollute the environment. Cassava skin contains starch which is the main material of making biodegradable polymer. In this study, the plastics were synthesized using nata method, where the content of cassava starch was fermented with Acetobacter vylinum bacteria and given plasticizer addition. Variation of plasticizer type (1.4 butanediol and polyethylene glycol) and variations of its concentration (0.5%, 0.1%) were done this study. The addition of a plasticizer is intended to improve the quality of the mechanical properties of the synthesized film. The results were in the form of bioplastic sheet and tested for characteristics in accordance with the mechanical properties from bioplastic which are among others of tensile strength, elongation and biodegradability. The best result is bioplastic sheet with the addition of 0.5% polyethylene glycol plasticizers have better mechanical properties with a tensile test value of 312.93MPa (31.91 kgf/mm), an extension of 5.09% and the rate of degradation in the soil 0,02gram / day. FTIR spectrum shows that the main chemical groups are OH, N-H (3342.03cm -1 ), C-O (1054.87cm -1 ), C=C (1646.91cm -1 ) and NO 2 (1316.21cm -1 ). This research successfully produced bioplastic sheet by Nata method using 0,5% polyethylene glycol as plasticizer and cellulose from fermentation skin cassava starch as matrix. In the future prospects, this bioplastic sheet can be developed as plastic bags and food packaging.