Utilizing Nata de Pina for Hydrogel Synthesis: Effects of Citric Acid on Hydrogel Characteristics

Abstract

The increasing production of pineapples will produce waste that's increasing anyway. To optimize the utilization of pineapple skin waste One solution is to use the pineapple skin waste To be used as the main material for making nata de pina. Nata de pina is fiber cellulose on the surface of pineapple medium from the results of Acetobacter xylinum bacterial metabolism. The resulting cellulose is then used as a basic material manufacture of natural polimer as hydrogel. The research stage consists of 3 stages, namely making Nata de Pina, the manufacture of hydrogels as well as the characterization of the resulting hydrogels. The method used in hydrogel synthesis is chemical crosslinking with citric acid as a crosslinking agent. Variable variations performed in This study is the use of citric acid concentrations of 35%,37,5%,40%, and 42.5%. Nata de Pina-based hydrogel was successfully synthesized. Hydrogels based on Nata de Pina were successfully synthesized. It is shown based on the results of the FTIR test that the hydrogel has a C=O group that proving that there has been a cross-linking between cellulose and citric acid. The resulting hydrogel has good antibacterial activity against bacteria-positive and negative grams. The best results are shown by hydrogels with 40% concentration where the hydrogel has a maximum tensile strength value by 11.4 MPa. This study aim the innovative use of Nata de Pina, a byproduct of pineapple peel waste, as a novel material for hydrogel synthesis. By employing citric acid as a crosslinking agent, we investigated the effects on the hydrogel's mechanical and swelling properties. Our findings demonstrate the potential of Nata de Pina-based hydrogels in sustainable material applications, offering an eco-friendly alternative to synthetic polymers.