Dual modification of sweet potato crosslinking-hydroxypropylation as biodegradable film materials

Abstract

Sweet potato starch as the base material for the biodegradable film has a hydrophilic nature that makes the mechanical properties produced less good. To overcome this weakness, modifications were made to starch with a double method of hydroxypropylation and crosslinking. This research was conducted in two stages, namely: modification and characterization of crosslinking-hydroxypropylation and then the making and characterization of biodegradable films. Biodegradable film modified sweet potato starch has a lower water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) than native sweet potato starch films. The tensile strength and percent elongation values of the entire modified starch films have higher values than natural sweet potato starch films. Transparency value has decreased, which indicates that the film is in good clarity. The solubility value is obtained lower because the high solubility value of the film indicates a decrease in the quality of the film to be used as a food packaging material because the film easily dissolves in water and increases the possibility of damage to packaged products, especially for products that are easily affected by moisture content.