Characteristics of Biodegradable Foam (Bio-foam) Made from Cassava Flour and Corn Fiber

Abstract

Plastic in the form of Styrofoam is a synthetic polymer material which is very practical in its use. This garbage is very damaging to the environment if it is burned because it produces gases that are dangerous to human respiration. The use of styrofoam must be stopped and do an alternative effort for any eco-friendly packaging materials, namely bio-foam which uses starch as the main raw material. The potential source of starch is tapioca flour, and the main source for fiber is corncob for several reasons including plastics made from starch/biomass which are more easily decomposed by nature and are abundant, also less utilized. This research was conducted with taking fiber from the corncob waste, then mixing it with tapioca, sorbitol, Mg stearate, and PVA. After obtaining the bio-foam, a water absorption test and biodegradability test were carried out. The results of the water absorption test showed that the 1st treatment had the greatest water absorption, exactly at the immersion time in the amount of 15 minutes in 25.45%, while the biodegradability test with soaking time in the soil for 14 days showed that 1st treatment was the most easily degraded by 20.25%.