Synthesis and characterization of biodegradable plastic from watermelon rind starch and chitosan by using glycerol as plasticizer

Watermelon rind is a part of the watermelon that is rarely used, less application of polymer materials which has the potential to produce starch. In case of increasing the tensile strength characteristic of the bioplastic film, chitosan and lemongrass oil additives are obtained from biomass and used for the anti-microbial agent. Chitosan and lemongrass oil additives were chosen to combine with watermelon rind starch. Glycerol was used as a plasticizing agent because it could be fully dissolved in starch solutions and other organic materials. For this case of study in watermelon, rind starch was produced by the extraction method, the yield makes up to 0.07%. Bioplastic films can be obtained by adding plasticizing agent and amylose/amylopectin, but this study is evaluating the differences between each combination of additives with different compositions. Therefore, conducted some analysis of Tensile Strength, FTIR, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and Biodegradation for this study. Sample starch +0.5 ml glycerol +0.75 g chitosan, has the highest tensile strength value of 52 MPa, and the highest elongation value was found in the starch + glycerol 0.5 ml sample which was 14.2%. The effect of combined lemongrass oil influences the degradation process, resulting in a long time in the degradation process than the other samples. © 2022