The effect solvent type on natural fiber immersion process on tensile strength of cellulose-based bioplastic

Environmental pollution caused by the use of conventional plastics is increasing. This is due to the high use of conventional plastics and the difficulty of being degraded in nature. Several studies continue to be developed to make plastics that are easily degraded in nature, namely bioplastics. Bioplastic is a type of plastic made from renewable materials and can be decomposed in nature with the help of microorganisms. The manufacture of bioplastics is done by dissolving raw materials such as rice straw, sugarcane bagasse, cocoa husks, and tea waste into various solvents, namely trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), N, N-dimethylformamine (DMF), trifluoroacetic acid anhydride (TFAn), and citric acid. The resulting bioplastics were analyzed for tensile strength and elongation at break. The results showed that the use of rice straw as a raw material in the manufacture of bioplastics showed good results where the composition of the high cellulose content of rice straw was 61.8% and the tensile strength that had met SNI was 43 MPa using trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) as a solvent. However, a good elongation at break was produced by cocoa husks with a value of 28% using trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) and trifluoroacetic anhydride (TFAn) as solvents.