Production of bioplastic from biowaste materials and its SEM-EDS report

Abstract

Plastics are petroleum based polymers that cannot be degraded naturally. One environmental friendly alternative to the current plastic is bioplastic. Bioplastic are biodegradable plastics which can be degraded naturally. Many raw materials have been investigated for the production of these bioplastics. In this work, three different raw materials such as gelatin, agar and starch which were extracted from waste biomaterials and were used in different proportions for the production of bioplastic. Properties of bioplastics such as solubility, folding endurance, elongation strength, melting point, hardness, biodegradability and SEM EDS were performed and it was found that the produced bioplastic was insoluble in water, polar and non-polar solvents. The elongation strength of bioplastic was found to be 17.64% and 15 folds were able to perform. The melting point of bioplatic was found to be 90°C and the biodegradability of the bioplastic was analyzed and 60% degradation was found within 25 days. The hardness of the bioplastic was found to be 30. The molecular structure and composition of the bioplastic was analyzed by SEM and EDS test and the results revealed that complete mixing of raw materials in SEM image hence showed smooth surface.