Effects A Variety of Arrowroot (Maranta Arundinacea) Starch to Chitosan Ratios on the Thickness and Biodegradability of Bioplastics Tanalyna Hasna*, Latifa Putri Aulia, Fenty Nurtyastuty E. P.
Departement of Food Science and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Universitas Brawijaya
Email : tanalynahasna[at]ub.ac.id
Abstract
Bioplastics are an alternative non-polluting material which substitutes conventional plastics. Bio plastics are made from natural polymers as the main ingredient, allowing microorganisms to digest them easily. The source of bio plastics, starch, is a natural polymer. Chitosan addition to bio plastics is expected to produce durable bio plastics. This research analyzes the effects of chitosan addition on the mechanical properties and degradation of bio plastics. Bio plastics are made using a blending method and left to dry at a temperature of 45˚-C for 15 hours. Three main ingredients of bio plastics are arrowroot starch, chitosan, and glycerol as a plasticizer. The variety of the ratios of arrowroot starch to chitosan is 10:0 (P1), 8:2 (P2), and 6:4 (P3) (b/b). The characteristics of bio plastics are identified using a thickness measurement and a biodegradability evaluation. The findings indicate that sample with ratios of arrowroot starch to chitosan is 10:0 has the greatest thickness (0.908 mm) and sample with ratios of arrowroot stach to chitosan is 6:4 has the longest degradability time in the soil, while the degradability time of two other samples is 0.55% (on fifth day) and 0.56% (on tenth day).
