FORMULATION OF BREADFRUIT (Artocarpus altilis) PEEL WASTE AND BLOOD CLAM SHELL WASTE (Anadara granosa) WITH GLYCEROL AS PLASTICIZER IN DEGRADABLE PLASTIC MANUFACTURING Robert Adhitama, Jesica Viona Setiawan, Johan Sukweenadhi, Theresia Desy Askitosari, Mangihot Tua Goeltom
Fakultas Teknobiologi Universitas Surabaya
Abstract
Nowadays, the world in in dire need for solutions to tackle the ever-growing plastic Nowadays, the world needs solutions to manage the ever-growing plastic waste problem. Plastics cannot decay easily in natural environment. Instead, it took for conventional plastics such as PET - about 23 to 48 years to decay naturally in the environment. Therefore, it is urgently needed to find an alternative to these types of plastics, namely degradable plastics. One type of bioplastics, called starch-based bioplastic can be made using starchy materials from Breadfruit peel. This is in combination with Blood Clam shell - derived chitin nanowhiskers as reinforcer and glycerol as plasticizer. In this research, bioplastic is synthesized using proposed formulation consisting of starch extracted from Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) peel waste, substituted by reinforcing agent chitin nanowisker made from Blood Clam (Anadara granosa) shell waste, and addition of glycerol as plasticizer. Further, bioplastic was tested according to general standard plastic tests including Tensile Strength, Water Uptake and Soil Burial test. Chitin nanowhisker was made using Acid Hydrolysis method in which HCl 0,1 M was used to hydrolyse blood clam shell chitin waste, while Breadfruit peel starch was extracted using centrifugation method. Soil burial test results showed that in the period of less than 15 days, the bioplastic was completely decomposed. Water uptake test results showed that the bioplastic made from breadfruit waste starch + Blood Cam-derived nanowhisker chitin can achieve water uptake numbers as high as 94,077 %, this was lower than the control sample which was made without addition of Blood Cam-derived nanowhisker chitin. But this test result was still higher compared to conventional plastics such as clip plastic, having water uptake percentage of 0,758 %, and to supermarket plastic bags having water uptake percentage of zero. Tensile strength test showed that the bioplastic made from breadfruit waste starch + Blood Cam-derived nanowhisker chitin was two times stronger than bioplastic made without the addition of Blood Cam-derived nanowhisker chitin and was also stronger than conventional plastics.
