Abstract

S. Silviana*¹ and Siti Susanti²

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/ojc/350315

Commercial plastics synthesized from fossil oil can significantly affect the environment due to its non-biodegradable property. It is an attempt to minimize the use of the plastics substituted with biodegradable plastics such as biocomposite. Biocomposite matrix can be synthesized from cellulose. A potential cellulose source can be obtained from bacterial cellulose. The bacterial cellulose observed in this study was extracted from guava. Bamboo microfibrillated cellulose was used as reinforcement agent. The objectives of this paper are to obtain optimum condition of bacterial cellulose from guava reinforced with microfibrillated cellulose of bamboo and to identify the characteristics of the biocomposite product such as its mechanical (tensile strength), morphological (SEM), thermal (DSC and TGA) and structural properties (FTIR and TGA). The results show that optimal conditions of the modified biocomposite was achieved at 5%-w/v of bamboo microfibrillated cellulose with tensile strength of 59.81±4.81 MPa. Furthermore, the biocomposite had good thermal stability. It was confirmed by TGA analysis with glass transition temperature of 150°C higher than that of guava bacterial cellulose without the reinforcement of bamboo microfibrillated cellulose, i.e at 110°C.

Bacterial Cellulose; Bamboo; Biocomposite; Guava; Microfibrillated Cellulose

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