Utilization of Acetic Acid as Anti Bacterial Agent of Starch-Based Bioplastic
Rossy Choerun Nissa (a*), Anti K. Fikriyyah (a), Rizka (b), Oceu D. Putri (a), Bonita Firdiana (a), Myrtha Karina (a), Akbar H. D. Abdullah (a)

a) Research Center for Biomass and Bioproducts, National Research and Innovation Agency, Cibinong 16911, Indonesia
b) Departement of Chemistry, Universitas Tanjungpura, Pontianak 78124, Indonesia

Abstract

The growth of microorganism on a natural polymer based material is inevitable. Acetic acid as one of food grade anti bacterial agents can be used to resist microorganism growth on bioplastics. This study aimed to investigate the anti bacterial activity of acetic acid on starch based bioplastics and its biodegradability. Starch based bioplastics were fabricated by mixing starch and glycerol (3:1, w/w) with acetic acid at concentration of 0.25- 0.5- 0.75- 1.00% (w/w). Bioplastics were prepared through a series of processes: (1) blending of starch and glycerol for 3 min, (2) extruding of the starch glycerol mixture by using single screw extruder at 80 until 130C, (3) compression molding of 150C and 50 kgf /cm2. Escherichia coli has been used for determining the resistance of bioplastics against the microorganism by disc diffusion method. Aspergillus niger was used to assess the biodegradability of bioplastics and were carried out for 7 days. Futhermore, biodegradability of bioplastics was slightly decreased which indicated that the addition of acetic acid did not significantly affect the biodegradation. Based on these results, the addition of acetic acid as an anti bacterial agent can be used to prevent bioplastics from microorganism which is potentially for food packaging application

Keywords: Bioplastics- Starch- Acetic acid- Anti bacterial- Biodegradability

Topic: Polymer Chemistry & Bio-based Materials